COOK-A-DOODLE-DO

Mixed Halwa

2011-08-31T00:11:00.003+05:30

with Ata (Wheat Flour), Roasted Almond powder & Roasted Lotus Seed powder

Catering to the taste and health needs of a five and half year old and a one year old with a common dish is not only tough but quite an uphill task. But makes life a trifle easier for me! ;)

On the few occasions I do manage and satisfy both the elder's tastebuds and the younger's nutrition needs, I cant help but pat myself on the back.

This halwa is one such a dish.

Setting out to make suji halwa, realised that the dampness due to incessant rains had gotten the better of me, and the suji looked far from edible.

I had just 15 minutes to leave for office before which I had to make the-after-school-evening-tiffin for AD (my elder daughter).

So this was the substitute....

Ingredients :

Wheat flour (Ata) - 1/2 cup
Roasted and powdered Almond - 1/2 cup
Roasted and powdered puffed Lotus Seeds (Phool Makhana) - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3-4 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 litre
Green Cardamon - 3-4
Sugar - 1/2 cup or to taste

Procedure :
1. Heat ghee in a kadai and throw in the green cardamoms
2. Add the Ata and roast on medium heat vigorously. Take care that the ata does not burn
3. After the raw smell of Ata is eliminated, add the roasted-powdered almond & lotus seeds. Keep on stirring on medium to high heat.
4. Add sugar and continue stirring till nicely browned but NOT burnt
5. Add the milk slowly and keep stirring to ensure lumps are not formed.
6. Cook till the consistency is semi solid & gooey i.e upma/halwa like!!

serve warm...

Note : I have also made this by substituting the Ata with Ragi flour & suji.

Rohu Roe fritters .... Rui Machher Dimer Bora

2011-08-26T23:57:00.001+05:30

A dull grey rainy day culminates into an evening of continuous rains. As with the weather outside, the ambience within the four walls was also dull, damp and grey!

Boredom was further enhanced by the fact that the Friday evening was not only a rainy evening, but was about to be followed by AD's Maths Exams the following day i.e Saturday....what could be worse!

Well, had to spice up the tea time with something more than the biscuits and the 'Bhujiawallah' snacks!!

So the 4kg Rohu's Roe, sitting in the freezer, was brought out, thawed, spiced up and deep fried and savoured with mugs of hot steaming ginger tea! Aaaah Bliss.....

The recipe....

Ingredients

Roe of a 4kg Rohu roe yielded about 38-40 (1.5" dia) fritters or 'Boras'

Onion - 1...finely chopped

Ginger - 1 tsp grated

garlic - 2-3 cloved chopped

Green chillies - as many as the heat factor allows

Besan or gram flour - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil to deepfry.

Procedure :

1. Mix the roe with all the above ingredients.

2. Make coin sized balls and flatten

3. Deep /shallow fry on a non-stick pan

4. Serve hot with tea/coffee.

These 'Bodas' or fritters can be an accompaniment to Plain Rice-(Mushurir/Masoor) Dal.

Another option would be to make a gravy with onion, tomato and potato and add these fritters and make what in bengali is known as 'Maachher Dim er Bora'r Dalna'

Chicken garnished with Sesame seed speckled Capsicum

2011-07-22T22:06:00.001+05:30

Surprise in the fridge!
The weekend was near and the fridge almost empty. And I had resigned myself to a dinner of dal, cabbage and rice. Even the stock of eggs was dwindling to one....quite a sad affair indeed! (Yes! I am a shamelessly unrepentant carnivore!!)
Just as I was about to close the freezer door shut after having opened it out of sheer habit, saw a little flash of red lid peeping from behind the big packets of frozen peas and sweet kernels. The mood perked up and a quick shuffle and it was a red lidded box of marinated chicken breasts which I had completely forgotten about. I had marinated the meat in my perennial marination of lemon-salt-pepper-ginger-garlic and there it was sitting pretty in the freezer waiting to be discovered!

Ingredients

Chicken breasts - 500 gms
Lemon juice of 1 large or 2 small lemons
Ginger-garlic paste - 1tbsp
Bay leaf - 1
Sliced Garlic cloves - 4-5 cloves
salt
pepper
diced onions -1
diced capsicum
Worcestershire sauce - 1.5-2 tbspn
White sesame seed (added as an afterthought!)
Potatoes diced - 1 large (optional...I'd added to add volume)
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure

1. Marinate the chicken breasts in lemon juice + salt + pepper + ginger-garlic paste for a couple of hours. Though I had marinated or rather marinated and forgotten about it for more than 3 days.;)
2. Heat oil in a wok. Temper with the Bay leaf.
3. Add the potatoes.
4. Add the diced onions and sprinkle some sugar on it for colour. Fry on high heat and keep stirring
5. Throw in the chopped garlic.keep stirring
6. Add the marinated chicken after cutting them into small pieces. Cook on high heat.Since it was in the marination for so long, the meat is very tender and takes very less time to cook.
7. Add some pepper powder, followed by Worcestershire sauce. Toss around and keep stir frying.

8. Just as I was about to add the diced capsicum, an idead struck and I took out my tawa, put it on flame, threw the capsicum and tossed them around to dry roast. As a final touch of brainwave, threw in a tablespoon or two of white sesame seeds into the tawa and roasted till they were crisp and pale golden.

9. Now garnish the chicken with the dry roasted capsicum and white sesame seeds.

10. Finally throw in some green chilies and garnish with coriander leaves.

Roast Chicken on a bed of vegetables.....served with butter rice

2011-07-17T01:18:00.001+05:30

The success and satisfaction of a job well done, egged me onto to try out a simpler chicken roast unencumbered by a deluge of ingredients and sauces. While at it, habit led me to google and amongst the various Chicken roast recipes, it was this recipe which appealed to me due to its simplicity and ready availability of all ingredients....of course slight changes, modifications were made here and there.

So here goes my version...

Ingredients :

Whole chicken with skin on - 1.4 kg

Rock Salt

Pepper

Chili flakes

Lemon juice - of 2 medium sized lemons

Dried oregano

A mix of dried thyme-basil-rosemary-parsley

Lemon - 1 whole

Vegetables - lots of roughly diced vegetables. I used carrot beans, baby corns, potatoes

Mushrooms - about 12 button mushrooms

Garlic cloves - 10-12

Coriander leaves - a handful of chopped coriander

Butter - about 40 gms.

Procedure

1. Mix lemon juice + rock salt +pepper+chili flakes + dried oregano+herb mix and rub the it all into every possible surface of the chicken and also inside the cavity.

2. An hour's marination is adequate but the longer the marination the better. I marinated it for 24 hours, unplanned and unintentionally.

3. While dicing the vegetables and mushrooms, switch on the oven (I used OTG) for preheating, at 250 deg C.

4.Spray/smear the baking tray with butter/olive oil

5. Arrange the diced vegetables on the tray. Sprinkle salt and pepper and drizzle/brush on some butter/olive oil on the vegetables.

6. Smear semi melted butter all over the chicken and also inside its cavity.

7. Take a lemon, prick it all over. Microwave it for 15-20 seconds and then push it into the chicken cavity along with some chopped coriander and garlic cloves.

8. Place the chicken on the vegetable bed.

9. I used 'BAKE MODE' of the OTG for 50 minutes first.

10. Place the chicken on vegetables into the oven. After 10-15 minutes (till the chicken has a crispy golden coating), reduce the temperature to 200 deg C.

11. After lapse of 45-50 minutes, turn the chicken around. Baste the chicken and toss the vegetables around. Sprinkle some water if they are darkening/burning

12. After turning the chicken around, cook at 200 deg C for another 40-50 minutes....making it a total of 90-100 minutes cooking time..

13. Take it out of the kitchen. Keep it completely covered for about 10 minutes (I covered with my large wok upside down)

While the chicken was cooking and the aroma of melted butter wafted from the kitchen, my olfactories started working overtime, and suddenly I felt a craving for rice.....took out some cooked rice leftover from the lunch and in a wok, melted a tbsp of butter, threw in a bay leaf, peppercorns, pinch of sugar & salt. Added the plain white rice, tossed it around to coat the butter-salt-sugar-pepper mix uniformly and hey presto! a heavenly butter rice to go with the chicken and vegetables, was ready!

Reposting Protein Rich Food

2011-07-15T00:52:00.001+05:30

The following two main courses are being reposted for the event "COOK IT HEALTHY" - "Proteinicious"

1. Baked Fish

Baked Bhetki Fillet (wrapped in spinach and topped with cheese) served with steamed & sauted vegetables and fried baby potatoes

***

2. Fried Jumbo Prawns in roasted tomato-cheese-garlic sauce with Cinnamon Rice

Jumbo Prawns fried in butter in cheese-roast tomato-garlic sauce and served with Cinnamon Rice

Pan(fried) Pseudo Pizza!!

2011-07-13T01:11:00.000+05:30

It looks like a small sized pan pizza. Tastes quite like one....well, almost! But the difference doesnt make it any less tasty! Inspired by Indira Mukherjee, I have adapted to make it simpler and faster. This recipe suits me fine on the "Onno kichhu khaabo" (Something different from regular stuff!!) days.

Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients : yielded 4 nos. 1/2" thick 6" dia pseudo pizzas
All purpose Flour (Maida) & Milk in 1:1 ratio
Egg - 1 for 1 cup Maida:1cup milk (200ml cup)
Any Grated / finely chopped vegetables like carrot, bean, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower/broccoli florets, babycorn etc
Garlic - 3-4 cloves - chopped
Salt
pepper
Chili flakes
Oregano & dried herbs-I used FabIndia's Chili-Oregano & Italian seasoning
Grated Mozzarella cheese - 1 bowl (200ml)
For topping -Boiled corn kernel /Chicken sausages/nuggets/mushroom/paneer cubes/soya chunks etc etc
Diced Onions - 1 medium

Procedure :

1. Mix Milk and Maida and add the egg, Salt & pepper Mix well with a hand blender. The batter is thick but of pouring consistency.

2. Add the chopped garlic and all the grated/chopped vegetables.

3. Keep the topping ready (the choice is yours...I used paneer cubes+diced onions on one occasion and chicken sausages+corn kernels+diced onions on another) stir fried or sauted.

4. A small pancake frying pan makes the base preparation a cake walk. Pour a ladle full of veggie mixed batter and spread it cover the whole pan. Pour some more to increase the thickness of the base. Cook on minimum heat. While frying the base, preheat oven (I used my OTG) at aroun 225-250 deg C.

5. Flip the pancake pizza or pseudo pizza base and let the other side cook.

6. Now on a flat ovenproof plate, place the (Pseudo) pizza base, arrange the toppings and sprinkle desired quantity of grated mozzarella. Sprinkle the italian seasoning and dried oregano and other herbs of choice.

7.Place it in the preheated oven on Grill mode at 225-250 deg C for around 5-7 minutes or till the cheese melts and gets a golden colour!

Ready to serve!!

Thor Ghonto

2011-07-10T00:37:00.003+05:30

A dry vegetarian dish made of BANANA PITH or STEM

The abundance of Banana Plant in Bengal is probably responsible for Bengalis using up each and every part of the plant, as I've already mentioned in several of my previous posts (here & here).

But a sad reality of today's fast paced nuclear families, is a gradual obsolescence of these regional delicacies. The main reason behind it is the difficulty in cutting and chopping these plant parts. I found a blogpost detailing the cutting procedure of Banana stem or pith, or as we Bengalis call it THOR.An additional tip is the last dicing or chopping....it should be as fine as possible. Almost minced.

Well, coming to the recipe of Thor Ghonto....this recipe is suitable when the stem/pith i.e Thor, is tender. Else the better option would be to go for Thor Chhechki.

Ingredients :

-Thor of length abt 1.5 ft - 2 nos.

-Gobindobhog rice preferably or any other similarly fragranced rice - 1/2 bowl

-Potatoes diced small - 1 medium or 2 small

-Grated coconut - 1/2 Gram/

-Bengal Gram - 1/2 bowl soaked in water (overnight preferably)

-Bay leaf/Tej Pata - 1 or 2

-Whole Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

-Whole garam masala - 2-3 green elaichi/cardamom, 1 1"stick of cinnamon, 2-3 cloves

-Masala Paste -
     Jeera powder - 2 tbsp;
     Halid/Turmeric-1 tsp;
     Red Chili powder- 1 tsp;
     Kashmiri Chili powder - 1tsp (optional)

-Salt

-Sugar
-Ghee - 1-1 1/2 tsp
-Roasted Garam masala powder

-Mustard Oil - 1 cup (This recipe is high on oil...for that matter all thor, mocha recipes are....)

-Wheat flour/Ata - 2 tbsp (optional, as a binder)

Procedure :

1. Cut the thor as given here. It's a very well illustrated explanation.Chop as fine as possible.

2. In a pressure cooker, take the minced thor, add a cup of water, add salt and haldi/turmeric and pressure cook upto 2 whistles. Drain the water and squeeze out as much water as possible.

3. Fry the diced potatoes after sprinkling a pinch of salt and turmeric.Keep aside after frying.

4. Now fry the washed gobindobhog rice in oil till crispy. Keep aside.

5. In the wok, pour the cup full of oil, heat it and season with whole garam masala, tej pata/bay leaf and cumin seeds/whole jeera.
6. Throw in the soaked Bengal Gram and immediately cover the wok with a lid until the bengal grams stop spluttering.
7. Now add the masala paste (haldi, jeera powder, red chili powder & kashmiri chili powder) and salt and sugar.
8. Also add the grated coconut now. Cook the masala well, 'koshano' as we call it in Bengali.
9. After the masala is well cooked, add the pressure cooked, water drained & squeezed minced thor. Mix well with the masala.
10. Add the fried rice followed by diced potatoes.

11. Cover and cook on low/medium flame for around 10 minutes. Keep stirring on and off. No water is to be added. If required drizzle a spoon of oil.
12. If the thor ghonto appears a bit too moist, sprinkle a tsp of Flour/Ata and turn the vegetable around to mix it. This is an optional step and is required ONLY to reduce the moistness of the dish.

13. Before taking off the 'ghonto' off the flame, heat ghee and season with roasted garam masala powder and pour over the 'Thor ghonto'.

The Thor Ghonto is ready to be served with steamed rice.

This post is off to Weekend Herb Blogging #291 started by HAALO and hosted for the week by PAULCHEN'S FOODBLOG

Soupy affair 2 - Spinach-Almond Soup

2011-07-04T00:53:00.001+05:30

Though it's an ideal winter evening pre-dinner appetizer, if fresh spinach is available, a wet monsoon evening is also 'just right' for this soup. That is exactly what happened. Picked up bunches of fresh spinach. Spinach as it is, is not exactly my elder one's (AD) favourite....hence have to resort to 'soupy' tricks !!
So here goes the recipe....

Ingredients :

Spinach - 6-7 bunches washed and roughly chopped
Almonds - 10-12 - blanched to remove the skin
Onion - 1 small, chopped
Garlic - 2-3 cloves - chopped (Optional)
Pepper corns - freshly ground - to taste
Milk - 600 ml
Cream - optional - 1 tbsp
Grated cheese - depends....cheese always tastes great
salt - to taste & sugar - a pinch
red chili flakes - 1 tsp - optional
Ghee/Butter/Olive Oil - 2 tsp

Procedure :

1. In a wok, heat butter/ghee/oil and add the chopped onions, garlic, almond and a pinch of sugar. And fry till the almonds & onions are golden brown.
2. Add the washed & chopped spinach. Stir it around a bit and continue cooking till the water evaporates.
3. After cooling, grind the fried/sauted almond-onion-garlic-spinach into a smooth paste
4. Transfer back to the wok and slowly add warm milk and keep stirring to ensure no lump forms. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Now add the salt. Let it simmer for a minute more
5. Take it off the flame and serve after garnishing with freshly ground pepper & grated cheese.

This post is off to Weekend Herb Blogging #291 started by HAALO and hosted for the week by PAULCHEN'S FOODBLOG

Penne Pasta with Roasted tomato sauce and vegetables, chicken nuggets

2011-07-02T01:06:00.001+05:30

As the kids grow up , fussiness and tantrums are often on the rise. Variety is not an option anymore but a compulsion. ~~Same~~ similar food on consecutive days is a big no no...the whine is almost instantaneous. Family meals , especially dinners are often dictated by their likes and dislikes, at least to ensure the given meal is finished without much ado. I am sure most Moms would agree.

In my home, the current rage being pasta, I take the opportunity to pack in as much of veggies into a bowl full of pasta as I can.....

Ingredients :

1.Penne Pasta cooked 'al dente' as per pkt instructions - 250 gm
2.Blanched vegetables for stir fry - carrot, beans, baby corn, brocolli etc

3.Tomatoes cut into quarters - 8-10 medium sized

4.Chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces - 250 gm, marinated in ginger-garlic paste-lemon juice-White 5.Sesame seeds-3 tbsp

6.Pepper corns - crushed

7.fennel seed paste

8.Rock Salt

9. Pepper

10.Chilli flakes

11.Basil - a handful

12.Garlic - finely chopped - 8-10 cloves

13. Dried Oregano

14. Italian seasoning

15. Grated cheddar cheese - 1 cup

16.Salt to taste

17. Butter/Olive Oil

Procedure :

Roast Tomato Sauce (inspired by Kalyn's recipe of slow roast tomato)

1. In a mortar pestle roughly grind 2 tbsp of fennel seeds with a few drops of water
2. Brush the baking tray with oil and preheat the oven (OTG) to 250 deg C
3. Smear the quartered tomatoes with the fennel paste, pepper powder, rock salt, dried oregano and drizzle EVOO.
4.Place on the baking tray cut side down.
5.Set the OTG in grill mode for about 25 minutes at 250 deg C. Keep and eye to ensure the tomatoes dont get charred.Continue till the skin of the tomatoes are wrinkled.
While the tomatoes were being grilled, I continued with the stir fried vegetables & chicken
6.In a pan/wok, take a tsp of EVOO. Add chopped garlic and basil leaves. lightly fry.
7. Add the roasted tomatoes and mash them.
8. Add water drained after boiling pasta mixed with a spoon of cornflour. Add 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Mix well

Stir fried Vegetables :
1. Blanch the vegetables after cutting them into small equal sized pieces.
2. Dry roast white sesame seeds in the wok. Remove
3. Heat EVOO/Butter. Add crushed pepper corns, a dash of sugar.
4. Add the blanched vegetables and toss them around in high heat.
5. Add required salt, dried oregano and chili flakes
6. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds

Chicken nuggets

1. I used some previously marinated (ginger-garlic paste, salt, pepper, lemon juice) chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces.
2. Heat oil in a wok. And throw a bay leaf or two.
3. Pour the chicken pieces. Brown them on medium-high heat.

In a large bowl assemble the cooked (al-dente) penne pasta, stir fried-white sesame garnished vegetables and chicken nuggets along with the roast tomato sauce. Toss them around to mix well. Garnish with grated cheese.

Soupy Affair - Mixed Veg Soup

2011-06-27T22:34:00.000+05:30

A bowl full of bright red on a dull grey rainy evening....Tomato-Beet-Carrot Soup

A depressingly wet grey weekday evening. When the whole week stretches and weekend is still a distant dream.....well to brighten up such an evening, go for this steaming bowl of bright red soup! And the best part is....kids love it!!

Ingredients :

1. 4-5 big juicy ripe tomatoes
2. 1 beet root
3. 3-4 carrots
4. Butter - 1 tsp
5. Onions - finely chopped - 1 medium
6. Freshly ground black pepper
7. Bay leaf - 1
8. Salt & sugar
9. Grated cheese
10. Dalia - 1 cup (optional)

Procedure :

1. Pressure cook all the vegetables together.
2. With a hand blender puree the tomato, beetroot and carrots and strain them through a metal sieve to filter only the tomato seeds and the larger fragments of tomato skin. I like more fibre in my soup.
3. In a wok, heat the butter. Add a bay leaf and a pinch of sugar and chopped onions
4. Add the pureed vegetables and salt - sugar to taste**
5. Let it come to a boil. Check to adjust the salt & sugar.
6. Garnish with crushed peppercorns and grated cheese.

**To make it a complete meal (especially for kids), add a cup of pressure cooked and pureed dalia (broken wheat) after step 4. Switch off the gas, partly cover the wok with a lid and blend with a had blender. Continue with step 5 & 6.

Reposting Summer Thirst Quenchers

2011-06-21T23:39:00.004+05:30

Chilled thirst quenchers and soups to beat the summer heat!!! Click on the drink names for detailed recipes

BCJMJJ8BFWYZ

ICED TEA

AAMER AMBOL (a soupy raw mango preparation)

WATERMELON JUICE

AAM PORA SHERBET (roasted raw mango drink)

These Summer delights are off to SERVE IT - CHILLED

Whole Chicken Roast...

2011-06-21T00:31:00.002+05:30

My first try at making whole roast chicken and it was a super success! But the credit goes completely to the awesome Barbecue sauce used to marinate the chicken and of course to me for following the recipe to the 'T', which is so very uncharacteristic of me....The few variations are due to non-availability of the ingredients and not an intentional attempt at deviation! ;)

The recipe and procedure which I followed so sincerely, are here. However noting the variations/improvisations in the ingredients as follows:

Dry Bay Leaf instead of fresh bay leaf
Regular Vinegar instead of Balsamic Vinegar
Sunflower Oil instead of Canola Oil
Kashmiri Chili powder instead of Smoked Paprika

Some personal notings for future reference :

I used an OTG at a temperature of 200 deg C.
The Chicken was approx 1.3 kg.
Time of roasting was aroung 1 hr 20 min. But could be around 10 minutes less as the top of the chicken was slightly charred, but that definitely added to the taste.
I marinated the chicken overnight instead of the suggested 5-6 hours.

I served the roast chicken with a side dish of mashed potatoes (with dill-garlic-cheese) and some steamed and (butter) sauted vegetables.

The mashed potato: (Boiled 1 potato per head)

1. Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a wok and season with crushed pepper corns, chopped garlic.
2. Add chopped dill and the smoothly mashed potato.
3. Add a large cup of milk and stir it well to mix with the mashed potato.
4. Add grated cheese, salt to taste, chilli flakes and pepper and mix well.

Serve...

This recipe is off to Sobha Shyam's Event COOK IT HEALTHY PROTEINicious @ Good Food

Bhaape Chingri ....Steamed Prawns

2011-06-19T20:46:00.001+05:30

in a grated coconut-mustard gravy

'Bhaape' means steamed in Bengali. And Chingri is of course Prawns
A recipe so simple to assemble and cook and also fast if instead of the traditional steaming, microwave is used...which I do. But my Ma insists, that the taste of the authentic 'Bhaapaano' or steaming is far far more superior to our short-cut microwaving. Coming from her, and that too about culinary methods and expertise, I cant even dream of arguing...but time being a major constraint, I have to make do with the second best....

Ingredients :
Medium sized prawns - 1 kg
Mustard paste - 1 small bowl
Tomato - 1, chopped
Potato - 1 medium sized, diced into small cubes and sauted after being smeared with a pinch of salt & turmeric
Grated coconut - 1
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp or more
Kashmiri Chili - 1 - 1.5 tsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 2-3 chopped
Coriander Leaves for garnishing
Mustard oil (a must to give the zing) - 3 tbsphe aut

Procedure :
If following the authentic steaming method....carry out the following steps in a steel container with a tight lid. If following the microwave menthod, use a microwaveable glass/ceramic container with a lid.
1. In the container mix all the ingredients listed above except the coriander leaves and pour the (only) mustard oil liberally.
2. Cover the container.
3a) Steaming - place the closed container in a bigger wok/saucepan. The bigger container should be filled with water upto 1/2 the level of the closed container.If a pressure cooker is being used, 2-3 whistles should be fine for the cooking to be completed..And in a regular steamer/wok, steam it for around 35-40 minutes

3b) Microwave the mix prepared in (1) for 7-8 minutes
4. Garnish with chopped coriander (dhonepaata) and serve with steamed rice.

Note :For added pungency / flavour of mustard (which we Bongs LOVE), drizzle about 2 tsp of mustard oil (kaancha tel) after completion of cooking and before garnishing.

Mixed Fried Rice

2011-06-14T00:23:00.006+05:30

A simple, easy to make, yet versatile fried rice...ideal for fussy kids on a weeknight or for their lunch box.
And yes, we adults also wouldnt mind having this 'fast to cook; great to eat' main course!!

Any vegetable, meat, sausages, eggs, prawns may be used...it's just a simple stir fry followed by mixing with rice. Here's what I used....

Ingredients:
1. Onion -1 finely chopped
2. 2-3 garlic pods sliced/chopped
3. Capsicum - 1
4. Button Mushrooms- 1 pkt containg 10-12, sliced
5. sweet corn kernels - a handful
6. peas - a handful
7. brocolli - small
8. I had some left over roast chicken - roughly sliced/shredded. Any kind of meat/sausage would be great.
9. Rice - 2 cups
10. Butter/Oil
12. Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom & Bayleaf
13. Salt & Sugar to taste
14. Pepper corns & ground pepper

Procedure:
1. Make steamed rice and spread it under the fan to dry. A better option would be to use rice cooked the previous night. (The latter is ideal for me when I make the fr. rice to pack for lunch)
2. Dry roast the sliced mushrooms in a wok to dry up the water.
3. In a wok, heat 2 tbsp butter.
4. Add bay leaf, crushed peppercorns, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom & Bayleaf and a pinch of sugar.
5. Add the chopped garlic & onions. Fry till golden brown
6. Add the broccoli, followed by capsicum, dry roasted mushroom, boiled/thawed corn kernels & peas. Stir fry on high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
7. Add the shredded chicken followed by cooked rice. Sprinkle black pepper powder. Mix well.

The mixed fried rice is ready to eat......

Mango Kulfi

2011-06-12T13:52:00.005+05:30

Summer ….the season of Mangoes, vacations, sorbets, ice-creams, kulfis and more….

This summer has been a summer of Mango kulfis for us ….making kulfis almost every 3 days and relishing this awesome summer treat almost daily.

The recipe is a slight modification of Tarla Dalal’s mango kulfi recipe found here

Ingredients : yields 11-12 medium sized kulfis

Full Cream Milk – ½ litre (the full cream part is optional)

Condensed milk – ¾ cup of a 180ml cup (I used sweetened condensed milk)

Milk powder – ¾ cup of a 180 ml cup

Sugar (may be skipped if condensed milk is sweetened OR the mango is v.sweet) – 2 tbsp

Mango pulp of 3 -4 medium sized mangoes.

6 aluminium moulds

Procedure:

1. Mix together the milk, condensed milk and milk powder and bring to a boil and simmer for 5-7 minutes

2. Cool down the mixture completely. I put it in the refrigerator to fasten the cooling process

3. In the meantime, keep the mango pulp of 3-4 mangoes ready

4. After the milk mix cools, add the pulp and give the mango-milk mix with a hand whipper.

5. Pour into moulds and freeze.

Take them out of the mould, or as Tarla Dalal says "demould" them.

Serve, relish and attain mango nirvana!! ;))

This post is off to SERVE IT CHILLED
and also to 'SIMPLE AND IN SEASON'

Fried Jumbo Prawns in roasted tomato-cheese-garlic sauce, with Cinnamon Rice

2011-06-09T19:53:00.005+05:30

My 'fishwallah' got me Jumbo Prawns (around 11 prawns weighing 2 kgs) one weekday morning. I was ecstatic but the joy and anticipation had to be shelved till weekend arrived.
Bored of the usual 'Malaikaris' (Prawns in Coconut milk) and 'Bhaape chingris' (Prawns steamed in mustard sauce), wanted to try out something new. And hence this experimentation.....

But a warning....it was a high on calories dish. Used Oodles of butter and also cream and cheese.

Ingredients : what I used ...

A.For the fried Prawns 1. Jumbo Prawns - 2 kgs (11-12 prawns)

2. Lemon juice of 2 small lemons
3. Salt
4. Pepper
5. Chilli flakes
6. Butter for frying

B. For the sauce
1. Tomatoes - 3 large sized
2. Onion -1 large
3. Grated Cheese - I used 2 cubes of processed cheddar
4.Garlic cloves - 5-6
5. Cream or full cream milk - 1 cup
6. Salt
7. Pepper
8. Basil leaves
9. Chilli flakes
10. Butter

C. For the cinnamon rice

1. Normal Sonamasuri rice we eat....basmati will add to the taste - 2 cups
2. Butter - 50 gms
3. Bay Leaf - 1 or 2
4. Cinnamon sticks - 5-6 long ones broken into smaller pieces
5. Nutmeg powder - a pinch
6. Sugar - a pinch
7. Salt to taste

Procedure : in the sequence i made.

Prawn Marination

1. The prawns were washed, cleaned and deveined the previous night
2. Marinate the prawns in lemon juice, salt, pepper and chilli flakes for 1/2 hour.

Making the Sauce :

3. I roasted the tomatoes over gas flame after slitting them at the top . Roasting/Grilling over charcoal will obviously add to the flavours.

4. In a wok, took a teaspoonful of butter, added chopped onions and the roasted tomatoes chopped and a pinch of sugar for caramelising. When the onion & tomatoes were nicely browned, took them off the wok, cooled and made a paste.
5. Then in a wok, again took a teaspoon of butter, added the onion-tomato paste, chopped garlic and mixed well

6. On low flame, added milk while stirring, followed by chopped basil leaves, followed by grated cheese.

7. To increase the tartness of the sauce, the lemon juice the prawns were marinated in , may also be added at this point

8. Finish off by adjusted the salt and sugar and a generous sprinkling of freshly crushed black pepper and chili flakes.
The sauce is ready.

Cinnamon Rice (I made it in Rice Cooker but can be made in the microwave too)
9. In a wok, take 2 tbsp of butter and when hot, add the bay leaf, broken cinnamon stick and a pinch of sugar

10. Add the previously washed and drained rice. Fry on high heat.

11. Add a pinch of nutmeg powder, followed by salt

12. Transfer to rice cooker. Add 4 cups of water (for 2 cups of rice). Add a tsp of lemon juice and set in on for cooking. For microwave, the ratio of rice:water should be slightly less than 1:2 i.e for 2 cups of water 3 1/2 cups of water.

The Star of the show : PRAWNS

13. Fry the lemon-salt-pepper-chilli flakes marinated prawns in butter.

Sit down for a divinely tasting, immensely high calories lunch!!

Gujju (Methi) Thepla in Bong kitchen

2011-05-23T23:23:00.007+05:30

Taught by a Gujju friend, love these Theplas!

Love them with mirchi achaar (green chilli pickle), and sometimes plain, with my evening cuppa! Best part they taste yummy even when not so fresh..

Ingredients:

Ata (wheat flour) - 250 gm or 2 cups

Curd - 1 cup

Methi (fenugreek) leaves- 1/2 cup
White til (sesame seeds) - 1 tbsp

Ajwain (carom seeds) - 1 tsp

Green chilli paste

Dhania (Coriander) powder - 1 tbsp

Jeera (Cumin) powder - 1/2 tsp

Haldi (Turmeric powder) - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1-2 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Procedure :

1. Knead all the ingredients together till you get a soft dough

2. Divide the soft dough into about 12-14 balls as in chapatis.

3. Roll out similar to a chapati.

4. On a tawa, smear some oil and cook both sides of the thepla.

5. Serve hot.

But, I like theplas kept overnight too....

Baked fish .....

2011-05-22T00:03:00.006+05:30

Served with greens, steamed vegetables and crispy fried baby potatoes

Easy to cook, healthy and great to taste.....

Ingredient:

I . For the baked fish :
1. Thick fillet of Bhetki Fish - about 8 - 10
2. Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tbsp
3. Juice of lemon - 1/4 cup
4. Grated onion / onion juice of 1 big onion
4. Spinach - 5-6 bunches
5. Firm tomatoes - 4
6. Cheddar Cheese grated - 1 cup
7. Butter or EVOO

8. Crushed pepper
9. Chilli flakes
10. Dried oregano

II. Vegetables I used :
1. Tender Baby corns - 8-10
2. Tender small sized carrots - 8-10
3. French Beans -10-12
4. Green peas - 1 cup
Any other vegetables/greens like cauliflower/broccoli florets / cabbage leaves / crunchy ice lettuce etc may be used
5. baby potatoes - 1/2 kg

III. Others
1. Rice flour - 1/2 cup
2. Turmeric - a pinch
3. Oil for deep frying
4. Salt
5. Chilli powder

Procedure : in the sequence I do to save time

1. Marinate the fish fillets in Ginger-garlic paste + onion juice + lemon juice + salt + pepper for a couple of hours or overnight (as i do).
2. Steam all vegetables at II of Ingredients. Dont let them lose their crunch
3. Spray or smear the baking tray with butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
4. On it make a bed of whole spinach leaves.
5. Place the marinated fish along with the marinade on the leaves.
6. Roughly chop 3-4 bunches of spinach and garnish the marinated fish fillets with the leaves.
7. Sprinkle liberally crushed black pepper, chilli flakes, oregano, small cubes of butter or drizzle 2-3 tsp of EVOO.
8. Garnish with grated cheese.
9. Slit the tomatoes on top cross-wise. push in a couple of peppercorns and a pinch of salt into each tomato. smear some butter/EVOO.
10. Put in the baking tray into the preheated oven (temp around 280-300 deg F) for 10-12 minutes.

11. If necessary, i.e if the tomatoes are still raw, put the tomatoes back in the oven for another 5-8 mins.
12. While the baking is being done, in a non-stick pan, smear some butter and saute the steamed veggies with a sprinkling of salt & pepper.
13. Make a batter of rice flour with water, salt, chilli powder and a pinch of turmeric. Dip the steamed potatoes in the batter and deep fry to get crispy fried wholebaby potatoes .

Arrange the baked fish fillets along with the spinach leaves, sauted whole vegetables, crispy fried whole potatoes and serve.

Paneer Bhurji .... Scrambled Cottage Cheese

2011-05-19T21:04:00.010+05:30

No excuses, justification, prelude or small talk!

Just some oft made recipes.....

A simple, nutritious as well as delicious breakfast or tiffin which can be used as a filling in a wrap or a sandwich, OR eaten just as it is, with toast!

And Rush, if you mash the paneer to a smooth consistency, grate the veggies instead of dicing them and eliminate the salt, there you are, a tasty treat for your little one!!!

Ingredients :

Paneer - 1 litre

Lemon - 1

Vegetables of your choice-(bell peppers, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, corn kernels, baby corns etc) - diced.

I used Capsicum, tomato and onion - 1 each

Green chilli - chopped fine

Coriander leaves-also chopped fine.

Salt to taste

Pepper corns, freshly crushed for better flavour & aroma

Butter /olive oil/white oil- 1 tbsp

Procedure -

1. Curdle the milk with the lemon to make fresh homemade paneer / cottage cheese

2. Just strain the whey but dont hang it in a cheese cloth to make it firm. We want the paneer soft and moist

3. In a wok, heat the oil/melt the butter

4. Throw in the crushed pepper corns followed by the diced onions, tomatoes and other veggies.

5. Saute in high heat for a minute or two but retain the crunch

6. Add the scrambled paneer. Stir around for a minute or two. Add salt.

7. Garnish with the chopped green chillies and coriander leaves.

Ministerial Khoya Chicken

2010-04-20T00:14:00.002+05:30

NDTV Goodtimes is one of my favourite television channels. And though I'm not a v.regular TV watcher, when I do, this is one of the very few Indian television channels which I find entertaining without falling prey to yellow journalism, cheap publicity or the saas-bahu-rural belle sagas!

Quite some time back, I dont remember on which show, I'd come across this food show where celebrity chefs cook up a meal and during that particular episode it was Renuka Chowdhury's turn. The dish sounded simple and looked great and the culmination of the myriad subtle flavours just had to make this chicken dish delicious !

But khoya not being a regular feature in my kitchen, somehow the recipe never got made, till the other day, when I had left over khoya after making the pantua.

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1 kg cut into medium sized pieces
Onion- finely sliced – 2 small or 1 large
ginger-garlic paste – 1-2 tbspn
Haldi/turmeric - a pinch
Khoya - 250gm (See procedure of previous post)
Curd about 250gm
green chillies slit coriander - finely chopped – a large bunch coconut milk – milk from a medium sized coconut salt - to taste
Oil

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a wok and fry the onions till pink & transparent.

2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook.
3. Add the chillies, chicken and turmeric. Stir well on medium flame. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes or till the chicken is golden brown in colour.
4.Add the curd and the khoya. Stir again.
5. Sprinkle ¾ th of the chopped coriander and mix well.

6. Continue cooking till the chicken is almost done.

7. Pour in the coconut milk and stir. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with steamed rice, Roti, Paratha, Naan.

It was finger licking delicious indeed!!

Shubho Naboborshe Mishti Mukh with Pantua!

2010-04-15T00:03:00.002+05:30

(Wish you all a Happy Bengali New Year on a sweet note)

Wish you all a very Happy Bengali New Year!
As a food obsessed community, what better way to usher in our New Year (Naboborsho) than to enjoy a bhuribhoj (a feast) with friends and family.

No Bong bhuribhoj ever culminates without the sweet endings or for that matter, no Bong festivity, function or gathering is ever successful without the presence of at least some form of sweetdish or mishti!

Before I continue further, I must must apologise for the sudden hiatus, unanswered mails and lack of response. I was hibernating! From the blogging world and from the net in general. Of course, could enjoy the hibernation only on the personal front, coz abstinence from net on the professional front would have meant harakiri.

So here I am with Pantua, a kind of Gulab Jamun where Chhana (home made cottage cheese) and khoya (thickened & almost dried milk) are used as raw materials.

Ingredients :
*Milk - 2 litres full cream milk
*Khoya - 200-250 gms (approximately)
*Lemon - 1 large or 2 small to curdle the milk
*Black cardamom-3
*Misri (candy sugar)/nokul dana-a handful
*Sugar : water in 1:1 ratio
*Maida / refined flour - 2-3 tbsp
*Refined Oil - 1-2 tsp
*Baking powder - 1 tsp
*Refined oil for frying

Procedure :
1. Make paneer/chhana/Chhena from 2 litres full cream milk by boiling the milk and squeezing in the juice of one big/ two small lemon/s in it. Yield from 2 litres milk is about400-500gm chhana.

2. For preparing khoya (which I made in advance...it's awfully time consuming!), I boiled about 1.5 litres full cream mail on low flame till all that remained was milk solids. The last 1/2 hour was troublesome when constant stirring was required to ensure the residues did not get burnt and at the same time the solids were spluttering like mini crackers

3. Mash the chhana into a smooth paste and then add the khoya to this and continue to mash till the mixture is smooth

4. Take about 2-3 tbsp of maida and mix 2-3 tsp of refined oil with it. mix it well.

5. Now add this maida+oil mix, 1 tsp of baking powder, black cardamom paste to the chhana-khoya mix. Knead well to make a soft dough.

6. Make small balls out of the dough. Take each ball, press and make a depression in its centre with your finger. Put a seed of black cardamom and one grain of misri or nokul dana in the depression and remake the ball by rolling it in your palms.

7. To make the Sugar syrup, boil 3 cups of water with 3 cups of sugar (sugar:water ratio=1:1). The syrup should be thicker than rasgulla syrup but not too thick. If it's too thick, add some more water and bring to a boil again.

8. Deep fry the balls in oil on low to medium flame to ensure that even the insides are well cooked.

9. Dunk the fried balls into the hot sugar syrup. Let the balls soak in the syrup for about 1/2 hour before the PANTUAS are ready to eat!

Note:As I had been off blogging for so long, completelt forgot to take in process & ingredient pics. Hence please bear with pics of only the finished product!

Dosa's cousin & a Dakshini Alu Dum

2009-11-23T21:25:00.003+05:30

(Goala/Gola Ruti....Dokkhini Alur Dum Diye)

Goala/Gola (pronounced as in 'Goal' -'a') Ruti is a kind of instant Dosa or a Pancake sans the egg & the sweet taste.

In our home Goala ruti is a much made and much loved weekend breakfast / brunch. It's quick, can be had with a side dish, sauce or as it is. Any vegetable chopped fine (like carrot, cabbage, capsisum, etc etc) can add to its nutritive value.

Today to enhace it's south indian-ness, I paired it with an alu dum which had a Duxini touch to it!

So here goes the recipe :

Ingredients

For the Goala Ruti :

* Maida or All purpose Flour : Suji or Semolina in 1:1 ratio. I used 80gm each of Maida and suji which yielded around 9 Goala Rutis/Pancakes

* Milk - 2 - 3 cups

* Salt to taste

* Onions - finely chopped 1/2

* Carrot - Finely chopped 1.

* Coriander leaves - finely chopped

* Green chilies - chopped fine

* You can add ginger / garlic paste & sliced if you like....I DID NOT

* Water to add to the batter to make the consistency more liquid

For the Duxini Alu Dum:
* Potatoes - 8-10 or as many as you require

* Onions - 1 large size, quartered

* Tomatoes - 1 medium, diced

* Curry Patta - a bunch

* Urad Dal/Kolai Dal (White lentils) - 2 tsp

* Whole dry red chili - 1

* Mustard seeds/Shorshe - 1 tsp

* Ginger paste - 1/2 tsp

* Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

* Sambhar Masala - 1/2 tsp

* Salt to taste

* Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp (+/- depending on heat tolerance)

Procedure

I first make the Alu Dum followed by the Goala Rutis

Duxini Alu Dum:

1. Boil the potatoes with their skin on. Afterward peel the skin off and cut each into 4 quarters.
2. In a wok, take oil and when hot, temper with whole dry red chili, mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves
3. Throw in the quartered onion and add a pinch of sugar. Fry till it turns pink and translucent.
4. Add the ginger paste followed by diced tomatoes.
5. Add the boiled and quartered potatoes.
6.Add the coriander powder, chili powder and salt
7. Toss them around to mix the masalas well.
8. Once the raw smell/taste of boiled potato is gone, sprinkle the sambhar masala

9. Mix around one more time...check for salt. Take the wok off the flame.
The Duxini Alu Dum is ready!

Goala Ruti :
1. Mix together the maida and suji in 1:1 ratio and pour milk to make a batter of dosa like
consistency. You can make the batter with ONLY milk or milk & water.
2. Add the chopped onions, grated carrot, finely chopped green chillies, chopped coriander leaves etc etc..
3. Add salt to taste.
4. Mix well.

5. Smear the non-stick tawa with 1/2 tsp of oil
6. With a hemispherical serving ladle, pour a glob of batter and spread it in a circle.

7. Fry one side on low flame. Flip it over and fry the other side.

8. Your Goala Ruti is ready to be savoured with the Alu Dum.

A fresh harvest of Red Radish ...

2009-11-20T22:56:00.008+05:30

A fresh bounty of red radishes landed straight from the fields to my kitchen...Thanks to a friend who gave me a bunch of the fresh roots from her farm. The veggie loving SD being away, I wasnt too keen on cooking up anything elaborate.....

And hence this simplest of simple salads....

Ingredients :
Small Red Radish - 5-6
Cucumber - 1 medium sized
Olive Oil - 1 -1.5 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 lemon
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Procedure :
1. Wash the radishes and scrub them. Trim the top and tip of the radish. You may peel the skin...I did not.

2. Wash and peel the cucumber

3. Slice the cucumber and radishes very thin.

5. Add the olive oil, sugar, salt, chili flakes and squeeze the juice of lemon into the sliced radish-cucumber. Toss them well.

6.Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy the freshness!

Gurjali Maachh er Jhol

2009-11-16T22:01:00.009+05:30

(Indian Salmon...Bengali Style)
Gurjali, or as we Bangaals say, Gurjauli, is not available very often in this Teleguland which has been my home for the past 30 months or so.

So when SD got it as part of his Sunday fish basket, my call to Ma was the usual "Gurjauli maachh ki diye ranna korbo?" (With what should I cook Gurjauli Fish?)

Why this query is of significance is, because we Bongs, have this unwritten do s and dont's when it comes to our traditional cooking. No garlic in this, no onion in that, paanch phoron here and kaalo jeera there....oh well....the list is never ending.

So when Ma said - kalo jeera phoron, shorshe bata, I heaved a sigh of relief! The simplest of fish curries....easy to make and good to eat on a lovely Sunday afternoon!!!

So here goes the recipe....

Ingredients :
1. Gurjali/Gurjauli Fish - 750gm
2. Kalo jeera/Nigella seeds/Kalonji - 1/2 tsp
3. Green Chilies - 3-4 or more
4. Haldi/turmeric - 1/2 tsp
5. Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp (or more)
6. Kashmiri Chili powder - 1/2 tsp (for colour)
7. Mustard powder/paste - 1-1.5 tsp
8. Tomatoes - 1 small or 1/2 medium - diced
9. Coriander leaves - a small bunch, chopped finely
10. Salt to taste
11. Mustard Oil for cooking & sauteing the fish

Procedure :

* Toss the fish pieces in salt, turmeric powder and keep them marinated for 5-10 minutes.

* Fry the fish lightly and keep aside

* In a wok take mustard oil and when smoking hot, temper with Kalo Jeera/Kalonji and slit green chilies

* Add to the tempering the diced tomatoes and stir.

* Mix the Haldi, Chili powder, Kashmiri Chili powder, 1/2 tsp of mustard powder, salt with water into a thick paste. Add to the wok. and stir briskly on medium flame.

* Take care not to burn the masala. Sprinkle water from time to time. Once the oil separates from the masalas, check to see if the raw smell of turmeric is still there. If the masalas still retain the raw smell, sprinkle some more water and stir again for a minute or two.

* Add the lightly fried fish pieces. Stir slowly to mix the masalas. Pour 4-5 cups of water. The gravy will be light and watery. Cover and cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes or till it starts boiling.

* Add 1/2 cup water to the mustard powder/paste. Now mix well and pass the mustard water through a sieve into the wok. This makes the gravy mustard flavoured and yet does not impart the rich, spiciness of mustard.

*Let it boil for another few seconds...garnish with slit green chilies and chopped coriander leaves.

* Switch off the flame and serve with steamed rice.
This light watery gravy tastes good ONLY if the fish is very fresh.

This is my 3rd entry to the Blog event ''THINK SPICE:THINK TURMERIC", hosted for Nov '09 by Sudeshna of COOK LIKE A BONG and the Think Spice event is the brainchild of Sunita of Sunita's World .

The logo for the event is...

Off to a bitter start with SHUKTO

2009-11-15T22:42:00.011+05:30

To a Bengali, Shukto needs no introduction!

And for others, who probably find a Bong's love affair with the bitter, a trifle eccentric or incomprehensible, Shukto is a mixed vegetable stew with a predominantly bitter - sweet flavour. A traditional Bengali lunch meal begins with Shukto. Why? Frankly, I'm not too sure of why only at lunch, but regarding the bitter beginning....but maybe it has something to do with the Ayurvedic Six tastes or rasas which need to be incorporated into our daily diet... The six rasas being (source - here)

madhura--sweet
amla-- sour
lavana--salty
katu--hot
tikta--bitter
kashai--astringent

Well, coming back to the Tikta rasa or bitter taste.....the bitter beginning may be anything from boiled and mashed potatoes & bitter gourd, or a mix of tender neem leaves and cubed brinjals fried in ghee (neem-begun) or the Crème de la Crème of the tikta Rasa... SHUKTO!

In the days of yore, a woman's culinary expertise was measured by how well she could cookishukto!! And every family, has over the years, added their own little personal touch to the shukto!!

Well, as is true for most traditional dishes I cook, I learnt how to cook Shukto from Ma. She cooks a variety of shuktos....Lau shukto, Lal Shukto, Maachher Shukto to name a few. I cannot muster the courage to learn so many and have restricted myself to two similar ones whose final touch at the end lend to their slightly different tastes. In one, I finish off the dish with a mix of milk-maida before adding a dash of ghee and the other is the one which I'll be posting today....so here goes the recipe...

Ingredients :
*Bitter gourd - 1 sliced in circles (I also added some grated bitter gourd which I soak in warm water overnight to prepare SD's morning drink!!)
*All other vegetable need to be cut lengthwise-
Potato, Brinjal, carrots, ridge gourd, pumpkin, bottle gourd, carrots, Potol or pointed gourd, raw banana, raw papaya, pumpkin, drumsticks....any of these vegetables in combination may be used.
* Badi (small lentil dumplings) - My badis had been exhausted ...hence didnt use any.
* Rice (Gobindobhog chaal) - about 30 gm soaked in water and made into a smooth paste.
* Mustard paste - about 2 tbsp. (the rice paste & mustard paste should be in equal measure)
* Bay leaf - 1
* Seasoning (phoron)-1 tsp of a mix of whole fenugreek(methi) + radhuni(Wiki says it's wild celery in English) + mustard
* Ginger paste - 1 tsp
* Coriander powder/Dhone/dhaniya-1 tsp
* Sugar to taste
* Salt to taste
* Ghee - 1 tbsp
* Ghee/White Oil for cooking

Procedure :
1. Take oil in a wok and heat it and fry the sliced bitter gourd and keep aside

2. Take some more oil. Add the bay leaf/ves and the temper with what I call the Shukto phoron (methi+mustard+radhuni).

3. Add the fried vegetables ....though, what I did was - after frying the bitter gourd, I poured oil, added the bay leaf and tempering and added all the vegetables and fried together all at once to save time. Then added the bitter gourd too.

4. Toss them around. Add sugar, salt, Dhone/Dhaniya powder and ginger paste. Stir lightly to mix well.

5. Add 2-3 cups of water, lower the flame, cover with a lid and let the veggies cook.

6. Once the veggies are almost done, mix the rice paste+mustard paste with some more water and add to the simmering almost done vegetable. Mix well.

7. Check the taste. It should be bitter with a sweetish touch. Add sugar accordingly.

8. Crumble the boris and add them now. I didnt have any!

9.The gravy should not be runny. Should be thick and moist...as we say in Bangla, maakha maakha.

10. Finish off with a dash of ghee.

11. Serve with plain white rice.

Hunger pangs and Frittata

2009-11-13T21:23:00.011+05:30

Lunch skipped. No time to satiate my mid afternoon hunger pangs. Hallucinations of sinfully delicious cheese omelettes. Can you imagine my plight in office???? Even while driving back home, I was dreaming of the smell of eggs being fried, with my eyes wide open!!

The ravenous me attacked the fridge with full vigour and in a jiffy I had all I needed for a sinfully delicious stuffed omelette. The sausages sliced, onions & tomatoes ready (I always have some chopped onions & tomatoes in air tight containers for such emergencies!), cheese grated, eggs beaten and just as I was about to go ahead with the dish of my afternoon cravings, I changed my mind and what followed, culminated in a frittata !!

Ingredients :
Eggs - 2
Sausages - 3-4 (sliced)
Milk - 3-4 tbsp
Onions - 1 small - sliced
Tomatoes - diced - 1 small
Processed Cheese - 1 cube
crushed pepper - to taste
chopped green chilies - to taste / optional
chili flakes - to taste
Capsicum - 1 diced
Sweet corn kernels - a handful
Peas- a handful
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped
butter/oil (I used butter!!!)
salt to taste

Procedure :

1. Beat two eggs. Add 3-4 tbsp of milk/milk cream and keep beating till fluffy. Add salt and pepper...beat some more. And keep aside

2. Switch on the oven at around 200 deg. F for 10-15 minutes, to preheat

3.In a frying pan, add some oil. Throw in the onions. Fry till light brown.

4. Fry the sausages with tomatoes and capsicum

5. Add the sweet corn kernels, peas and add the salt pepper, chili flakes & green chillies. Toss around once again in the pan.

6. With the spatula, spread the fried stuff evenly on the pan and pour the beaten egg+milk/cream mix. Tilt the pan to spread the egg evenly to cover all the veggies and sausages. Keep on low flame for the egg to set.

7. When the top is almost set (but not fully), sprinkle the grated cheese and continue to cook on stove top on low flame till the cheese starts to melt.

8. Transfer the pan (after removing the handle) to your preheated oven and cook on grill mode for 5 minutes. I like my cheesy fritatta tops soft, with the cheese melting in my mouth. If you like the top crispier and browned, keep it in the grill for some more time while monitoring it.

9. Garnish with chopped coriander.
Enjoy!!!!!

I ate like a glutton....had almost 3/4th and suddenly remembered my little baby who loves eggs!
Dinner was a cakewalk with the fritatta and was over even before I could spell it out!!!

This can make a wonderful breakfast or brunch and can be packed in kids' tiffin. It can be eaten as it is (as I did) or with bread roll/slices or mashed potatoes!

Note : I used all the sinfully high calorie stuff....like cheese, butter, milk cream etc etc....it was an indulgence I should not practise often!!! Using olive oil, low fat milk, crumbled ricotta cheese/paneer will definitely be a healthier and low calorie option!! But........

A simple stir fry

2009-11-12T01:44:00.010+05:30

This, I guess, is too simple a dish, to be posted.

But it tasted just great and my 4 yr old couldnt stop having it(which to me or for that matter, to any Mom, is the greatest compliment as a cook!) ...so I thought...why not post it!!

Just a slight problem....there had been no photography session of ingredients, in-process activities and end product! I had to make do with clicking the leftovers!!

Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients : **
Button mushrooms - around 10-12, sliced
Cauliflower - 1 medium size cut into small florets
Sweet corn kernel - a handful
Peas - again a handful
Onions - finely sliced
Pepper corns - crushed
Garlic - 3 to 4 pods sliced
Cheese - 2 small cubes of processed cheese - grated
Oregano-chilli mix - a dash
Chili flakes - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil/ Butter

**-any vegetables like carrots, beans, brocolli, spring onions, capsicum etc etc & chicken pieces/sausages may be added to make it taste even better!

Procedure :
1. Slice the mushrooms after rinsing them well & patting them dry
2.Cut the cauliflower into medium/small florets and blanch them in salt water
3. Also blanch the sweet corn kernel & peas (I had used frozen ones)
4. In a wok pour 1 tbsp oil/butter. When hot, add the crushed pepper corns and sliced garlic.
5.When the garlic slices are golden in colour, add the mushrooms and sprinkle some salt. Fry in high heat till the water generated dries off and the mushroom is beginning to turn crisp. Keep it aside.
6.In the wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil/butter. Add the sliced onions and fry till they are translucent. Add the blanched cauliflowers and fry in medium to high heat. Add salt.
7. Throw the sweet cornkernels and peas into the wok and continue stirring. Add a dash of chili flakes
8.Add the fried mushrooms and stir it around a couple of times.
9.Now transfer the contents into an oven proof dish. garnish with the grated cheese and sprinkle a dash of the oregano-chili mix.
10. Put it in the Oven in grill mode for 7-10 minutes.(maybe less depending on the oven)

Enjoy !!!!

Mouri Parshey

2009-11-05T00:01:00.005+05:30

(Parshey Fish in a Fennel based gravy)

Parshey is SD’s favourite and everytime the fish is available in the Sunday Fish Market, it would be bought and brought home!

And on most occasions, I make it in the simplest method using kalojeera, shorshe bata etc et…

Today after having marinated (in salt & turmeric paste) for 5-10 minutes and lightly frying the fish, just as I was about to pour oil for proceeding with the gravy, I wondered why not try something different! I dug into my bookshelf and pulled out an almost unused book I’d bought years ago….. ‘Moner Moto Ranna-Sananda Sankalan’ (A compilation of recipes by Sananda…a Bengali women’s Magazine)

Searching for Parshey, I found an uncommon yet easy recipe where I had at home ALL the ingredients!

So here goes the recipe which was for 4 Parshey (I presume they were BIG sized ones). Since I had 500gm of small sized Parshey, I modified the quantities accordingly…..

Ingredients :

1. Small Parshey Fish – 500gm

2. Fennel paste – 2 tbsp ( I used 2 tbsp fennel seeds)

3. Green Chili paste – 1 tbsp (I used 2 long green chillies)

4. Ginger Paste – 1 tbsp

5. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

6. Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

7. Kashmiri chili powder – ½ tsp

8. Plain curd – 1 cup (160ml)

9. Salt – to taste

10. Sugar – ½ tsp

11. Tej Patta -2

12. Fenugreek (Methi) – ½ tsp

13. Dry red chili (whole) – 2

14. Mustard Oil – 4-5 tbsp

Procedure :

1.Tossed the cleaned fish in a tsp of Turmeric & pinch of salt and lightly fried them and kept aside

2. I used my small chutney jar to make a moist paste with the fennel seed & green chilli

3. I took the plain curd and added the fennel (mouri) + green chilli paste and other ingredients given at Sl.Nos 4-10 (of ingredients). Mixed the curd and masala to a smooth paste.

4. In a wok poured the oil and once hot, seasoned with Tej pata, Whole Dry red chilies and methi.

5. I added the curd & masala mix and fried it well till the oil had separated from the masala.

6. Added the fried Fish and sprinkled about ½ bowl of water. Covered it and cooked for abt 5 minutes (or till it comes to a boil) on medium flame. The gravy should be thick. Garnish with a few slit green chilies.

Serve it witn hot steamed rice!!!

This is my 2nd entry to the Blog event ''THINK SPICE:THINK TURMERIC", hosted for Nov '09 by Sudeshna of COOK LIKE A BONG and the Think Spice event is the brainchild of Sunita of Sunita's World .

The logo for the event is...

Reposting Old recipes for 'WYF:Speciality Food' Event

2009-11-04T07:07:00.000+05:30

Being from Bengal, and having been brought up in a home where mother, grandmothers and aunts dished out gastronomical delights, especially traditional Bengali fares, all through our growing up years and till today, Bengali cuisine is the closest to my heart!

My blog too has a predominance of Bengali recipes. So when I chanced to come across this event announcement - WYF:Speciality Food hosted by EASY CRAFTS of Simple Indian Food- An Easy Cooking Blog, I was at a loss of which to post and which to leave out....

Here I am reposting three traditional recipes from my archives :

* A sweetdish which is almost synonymous to Bengal ....ROSHOGOLLA / RASGULLA

* A cool summer drink and an antidote to heat... AAM PORA SHERBET (A drink made of Roasted Mango Pulp)

* A dry vegetable dish made of Banana Stem or Pith...THOR CHHENCHKI

Shaboor Bada

2009-11-01T23:48:00.004+05:30

(Saboodana Vada or Fried Dumplings of Saboo)

I love Saturday evenings...just the thought of a holiday the next day, makes my heart soar with joy! And hence, Saturday evening teatime demands a little more than the usual biscuits or muri-makhaa!

As I was sifting through the stuff that would add an extra zing to my leisurely evening tea, I found a packet of saboo dana, bought quite sometime back and forgotten!
Retrieving the poor little forgotten packet, I set out to make the simple yet tasty Shaboor Bada (Deep fried Dumplings/Vada made of Saboodana)

Ingredients :

Saboo dana - 250gms

Potatoes - 3 medium sized

Onions - 1 chopped

Tomato - 1 chopped (Optional..I didnt use)

Jeera/Whole Cumin seeds - 1 - 1.5 tsp

Green chillies-4-5 (or more) chopped

Ginger-freshly grated (I used ginger paste)

Salt/Rock salt - as per taste

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup -chopped fine

Oil for deep frying

Procedure :

1. Soak the saboodana in water for about 15-20 minutes. I dont like them too soggy/mushy hence depending on the quality, the soaking time may be less. Keep checking while you arrange the other ingredients.

2. Boil 3 medium sized potatoes in a pressure cooker.

3.Mash the boiled potatoes. Add all ingredients in the 'Ingredients' list except saboodana.

4.By now the soaked saboo is ready. Drain off the water and mix thoroughly with the mashed potatoes.

5. Divide into around 20-24 balls and flatten between palms of your hands.

6.In a wok, heat oil for deep frying. Deep fry the Bodas/Vadas/Dumplings in batches till golden brown.

7. Serve hot with any chutney or Sauce. I served with Kashundi (A traditional Bengali mustard sauce) and munch along with a steaming hot cup of tea!

The above post, is my entry for "Sunday Snack: Festive Snack of Navratri and Diwali" hosted by Indrani of APPYAYAN.

The logo for the event is ...

Pav Bhaji comes to the rescue!

2009-10-29T20:38:00.002+05:30

Weekends, or for the less fortunate of the human species (like me!), ONLY SUNDAYs, are often, busier and more jam packed with things-to-do than the weekdays!

We (AD & I) usually practise a division of labour when it comes to weekend stocking up the larder...he goes shopping for meat, fish etc while I go vegetable shopping. No particular reason, except for the fact, that though I love fish to death, i abhor the squalor in a traditional fish market. From this (and only this) aspect, I prefer the sanitised environment of a supermarket.

I wish some enlightened enterpreneur comes up with a retail outlet which has the feel of an Indian Bazaar sans the squalor and the mess !!!! The fresh & bright greens, oranges, purples, the scented aroma of the herbs, the smell of earth, the buzz of life and livelihood, the banter and bargaining...I love it all! The supermarkets with their racks of frozen stuff, with the uniformity and the impersonalised & almost mechanised service, bore me to death (read my take on shopping here) !

I want the best of both worlds!

I know I sound greedy and demanding..but I am! I want everything!!!!!! I want the quality, the variety, the bargain and the personal touch...i am the customer and the customer is the KING (oops! QUEEN!!)

The GenNex Biyanis, Ambanis.....are you listening?????

Well, coming back to where I started.....this weekend we decided to give schedule & discipline a miss and be lazy! We skipped the weekly marketing....

Consequence ? weekend masti and midweek crisis!!
Barely wednesday and my refrigerator was frighteningly empty.....there was a bit of this and a bunch of that and the freezer was worse off...it was empty !!!!!

So yesterday on my way back from office, which is the time i plan what we would have for dinner, I stopped at the neighbourhood kiraana shop and picked up a few packets of Pav, having decided it had to be PAV BHAJI for dinner.

Ingredients :

1. Pav - 2 packets

2. Masalas :
a) Pav Bhaji Masala - approx 2 tsp

b) Haldi/Turmeric - approx 1 tsp
c) Kashmiri mirch - 1 tsp
d) Red chilli powder - as per taste

3. Butter - the more the better! I used around 2 tbsp for the bhaaji & 2-3 tbsp to saute the pav

4. Lemon wedges - I had only 2 ..

5. Onions - finely chopped -3

6. Coriander leaves - chopped. (Thank god for my little pot of Dhaniya in the backyard!)

7. Tomatoes - 3 small tomatoes chopped

8. Green chillies - finely chopped

9. Ginger paste - 1 tsp

10.Garlic - 1/2 tsp (optional)

11.Oil - 2 tablespoons

12.Vegetables - the more the merrier!

- I used :

a) Potatoes - 4 medium sized
b) Brinjal - 2 small

c) Cabbage - 1/2

d) Carrot - 3

e) Beans - a small bunch...around 5-6

f) Bottle gourd- 1 small 2 " piece

g) Peas - 1/2 bowl (I used frozen peas)

13. Salt

14. Sugar

Procedure
1. Boil in a pressure cooker vegetables given above in 12a-12f. Mash them with a masher and keep aside.

2. Thaw the frozen green peas in salted boiling water.

3. Heat Oil in a wok and add garlic paste and 1 chopped onion and a pinch of sugar for taste and colour (very typical Bengali!!). Fry till the onions turn light brown & translucent.

4. Add the ginger paste followed by tomatoes.

5. Mix all masalas given at 2a-2d and salt with some water into a paste and add this to the fried onion-tomato-ginger-garlic. Cook till you see the oil separate out.

6. Add the mashed vegetables (prepared as in Sl. 1). Cook well for 3-4 minutes

7. Add a blob of butter and garnish with coriander leaves and finely chopped green chillies.

8. When serving, sprinkle finely chopped raw onions and squeeze a wedge or two of lemon.

9. Slice the pavs horizontally and pan fry them in butter, on a tawa till they are crisp yet moist.

10. Serve the hot buttered pavs with the bhaaji garnished with coriander-chopped onion & a dash of lime!

Lau er Khosha Bhaja

2009-10-25T22:10:00.008+05:30

Dry veggie dish made out of Bottle Gourd Skin/Peel

Scavengers...that's probably what non-Bongs would call us. Apart from our carnivorous tendencies, we are herbivorous scavengers....We eat the skin of vegetables too!!!!

I have eaten all these traditional stuff at home throughout my growing up years. But when I became the homemaker, shortcut, easy to make dishes were what I fell back upon. Moreover, despite being from a family of food lovers and great cooks, during my school-college days, I never entered the kitchen to cook ... ever. Hence the unfortunate consequence....I never got the opportunity to train under my Ma's supervision. Moreover at that point of time, vegetables belonged to the much-hated, to-be-forced-down-the-throat category. Being the food lover I am, I was forced to learn cooking when I was living alone, from Ma (over the phone) or from friends and neighbours!!!!! And now, although my unbridled love for fish, chicken, mutton continues, but vegetarian dishes have managed to carve a little place in my heart (or is it the taste buds!)

Now fast forwarding to the present......

SD (the husband) has a bowl of boiled Bottle Gourd every morning to fight his triglycerides and cholestrols. Last month, during Ma's visit, when she saw the substantial amount of bottle gourd skin being generated everyday and promptly thrown into the garbage bin, she was scandalised!!! And cooked this particular Khosha Bhaja (Khosha=vegetable skin/peel; Bhaja=fried veggie dish) or Khosha Chhechki (Chhechki=dry veggie dish).

Following her instruction, I saved up all the Bottle Gourd skin during the last one week and made Lau er Khosha Bhaja/Chhechki this afternoon!!

And the result is as follows :

Ingredients :
Bottle Gourd skin - finely chopped (3 Bottle Gourd skins)
Pumpkin - sliced (1 smal bowl)
Kalojeera/Kalonji- 1 tsp
Whole dry red chilli-2
Green Chillies - 4
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Mustard paste - 2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2-3 tbsp
Coriander leaves - finely chopped.
Oil - 2tbsp

Procedure :
1. Finely chop the skin of bottle gourd
2. Steam the chopped skin after adding a pinch of salt
3. Drain the water and keep aside.

4. In a wok, pour some oil and season with Kalo jeera, Whole dry red chillies (2), green chillies (2-3)

5. Add the sliced pumpkin and cook till par cooked.
6. Add the steamed and water-drained chopped skin of bottle gourd.
7. Add salt, sugar and turmeric powder
8. Cook on medium flame for around 7-10 minutes or till the veggies are fried
9. Add the mustard paste followed by grated coconut. Mix well
10. Before switching off the flame, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and sliced green chillies.

The Lau er Khosha' Chhechki is ready to be eaten with steam rice.

This recipe goes to the WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING #206 hosted for the week by Yasmeen of Health Nut. The history of WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING is available here. The logo for the event is .....

Celebrating Kali Pujo & Diwali with Chhanar Jilipi

2009-10-16T23:06:00.008+05:30

(Jalebi made out of cottage cheese)

It's that time of the year again!

Come September/October/November and the Indian Calendar is choc-a-block with festivities. Religious, social, cultural ... our festivities are a joyous symphony of vibrant colours, myriad tastes that tingle the palate and religious fervour that embraces and engulfs our sprirts. It's a time of the year I love and yearn for. The smell of new clothes, the anticipation of going home to family and friends, the smell of Pujo in the air, the sound of the Dhakis in the background are all so familiar and nostalgia evoking....yet gives me goosebumps every year thus creating the magic of pujo. For us since childhood, Pujor Chhuti meant Durga Puja followed by Lakshmi Puja and finally the festivities and fun would culminate with Kaali Puja exactly two weeks after Dussehra and finally Bhai Phonta just two days thereafter!

Maa Kaali, the fierce incarnation the Durga, is worshipped on the Kartik Amavasya night in Bengal. While Ma Kaali is worshipped in Bengal, on the same day, Diwali is celebrated in the rest of the country and Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped in most homes of North, South and Western India.

Diyas, candles, fireworks are an intrinsic part of both Kali Pujo as well as Diwali. And as in case of all Indian festivities, be it religious/cultural/social, food, especially a wide variety of sweets is an integral part of all our celebrations!

So on this ocassion of Kali Puja, as we indulge our sweet tooth, shoving to the backseat for a couple of weeks the fear of calories, pretending to ignore for a while the clockwise swing of the weighing scale needle, I bring to you a sweetdish I love.... CHHANAR JILIPI. I learnt it from my Ma during my Puja vacation and here I am sharing it with you......

Ingredients:
Chhana from 2 litres milk (check here to see how chhana is made in Points 1 & 2 of Process)
3 Black Elaichis, made into a paste (I used the green elaichi/cardamoms-around 5)
Maida (refined flour) - 2 - 3 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Baking Powder - a pinch
Sugar syrup using sugar : Water in the ration 1:1.5
Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

1. Knead the Chhana into a soft and smooth dough

2. Mix the Maida with the Oil.

3. Then mix the maida-oil mix to the chhana to give some firmness to the very soft chhana dough

3.Mix the elaichi paste and baking powder and again knead very well.

4. Pinch of small balls of chhana and roll into smooth balls.

5. Roll it into a snake like shape as shown above

6. Twist the two ends as shown in pics below.

6. Deep Fry each formed jalebi in the wok

7. Keep the sugar syrup hot/boiling.

8.Fry the jilipis and dunk them in the sugar syrup.

9. Let them stay dunked in the sugar syrup for about an hour when the jalebis soak in the sweetness of the syrup and turns juicy.

Serve hot or cold......

HAPPY DIWALI!!

This is my entry to the event FF:DIWALI DHAMAKA hosted by Purva Desai of PURVA's DAAWAT. The logo for the event is ....

An Apology and heartfelt THANKS !

2009-10-14T23:58:00.001+05:30

I AM SORRY.....!!!!!

About this unannounced break ......

What started off as a whimsical aversion to the cyber world, continued much longer than I had expected....followed by the aversion phase were guests, illnesses, festivities...or in other words, the REAL WORLD took its toll on my cyber world and there I was far far away from the land of blogging!

And peeping into my cyber home after 3 long months, what do I find? Some new friends and well wishers on my FOLLOWERS list!! My joy knew no bounds......
Welcome to my virtual kitchen!

And thanks also to my friends from my active blogging days for taking time, visiting and dropping in a line or two despite my utter inactivity!

Also, thanks to Sudeshna for featuring my blog on her list of 7 TOP Bengali Blogs! I am flatttered and honoured!!!

And last but not the least, I thank my blogger friends Babli and Indrani who showered me with some wonderful awards. I promise to put them up on my blog soon!

Black Beauties...BERRY BERRY TASTY!

2009-07-09T00:34:00.001+05:30

(Kaalojaam - Delicious & Healthy)

Delicious Kaalojaam (Black Berry) .....A summer fruit available for a limited period in June-July. Kaalojaam or BlackBerry has a unique taste...you have to have it to understand.... sweet with a coarse-acidic tang which leaves an aftertaste. But the purple juicy pulp of these small spherical fruits is almost addictive...you just cant seem to stop....and before you know you have a bowl full of seeds....remnants of the fruit you just ate up!

Though I love to eat them as it is, to add to its taste, I do as follows :

Ingredients
Kalojaam = 500gms
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Kashundi (Indian Mustard sauce) - 1 - 1.5 tsp

Procedure :
1. Just put a slit or two on each of the fruit
2. Marinate with salt, sugar and kashundi.
3. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour
4.Enjoy !

Side Effects : A purple tongue!!!

Some more info about the humble Kaalojaam - A wonderful fruit for combating stress, cardiovascular disease and cancer. It has very few calories so anyone with obesity can eat it happily. You can skip your evening tea and consume this fruit instead because it cools and body and prepares it for rest. The best thing would be to make a drink with kalo jam, pudina pata, salot or honey to guarantee a good night’s sleep.

Nameless Delight!

2009-07-04T15:08:00.020+05:30

(Baked Bread stuffed with the goodness of vegetables, chicken and anything & everything healthy and tasty)
A dish without a name!

So dear friends, the onus lies on you to find one for this dish, once you read about it!

When visiting a cousin, she'd made this delicious preparation.

With hardly any time to note down or even hear the recipe, all she could say was "make it like a Cake sans the sugar but plus some salt and add anything as filling to it"...

She'd made it with chicken...when I decided to try out this Cake sans the sugar, I decided to make it more wholesome, and added chicken and some veggies too....

So without much ado, here goes the recipe...

Ingredient :
A. For the filling
1. Boneless Chicken pieces - 150-200gms
2.Onion finely chopped - 1
3. Cardamom-2
4.cinnamon stick - 1 (1" piece)
5. Bay leaf
6. Ginger + Garlic paste - 1 tsp
7.Carrot - blanched
8 Beans - blanched
9. Baby corn - 4-5 sliced
10. Butter - 2tbsp
11. Crushed pepper - 1 tsp
12. Chilli powder - 1 tsp (optional)

B. For the batter :
1. Flour - 2 cups (about 200gm)
2. Eggs - 3
3. Oil - 1 cup
4. Baking powder - 1tbsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Crushed pepper corn - 6-8
7. Roasted Garlic sliced - (5-6 cloves of garlic) ** (I roasted the garlic as given here)
8. Butter - 1 tsp
9. Milk - 1 cup

C.For the final tempering
1. Butter - 1-2 tbsp
2. Red Chilli - Roasted and ground into flakes - 1 tsp
3. Roasted Garlic sliced

Procedure :
A.Filling
1. Take ingredients Sl. No. 1-6 in 'B' of Ingredients and pressure cook.
2. Chop the blanched carrot and beans into small cubes
3. In a wok, take some butter and when hot, add the sliced babycorn.
4. Fry till golden.
5. Add the cubed carrot-beans and stir fry. Add some salt and pepper.
6. Lastly add the boiled boneless chicken pieces and again saute for 2-3 minutes.
Keep aside

B. Batter
1. Whip 3 eggs and keep aside
2. As in making a cake, mix the flour and the baking powder well.
3. In a bowl, mix the whipped eggs, oil
4. Now in a big mixing bowl, mix together the flour+baking powder, egg+oil, salt, crushed pepper. Beat the mixture well
5. Now add the stirfired chicken-carrot-bean-babycorn into the batter .
6. Add some sliced roasted garlic
7. Mix well.

Preheat the oven for 5 minutes.

After spraying oil in a baking container, pour the chicken-vegetable containing batter

Bake at 180 deg Celsius for 25 minutes.

Insert a knife and if it comes out clean, it's done....else bake for another 5-10 minutes

Now in a skillet heat 2 tbsp of butter, add some roasted and flaked red chillies, slices of roasted garlic.
Now pour this butter-chilli flakes-garlic combo on the baked dish (as in chhaunk) The baked goody is ready to be sliced and eaten with some sauce.

*It makes a great breakfast dish ...
I had it with a cup of tea and finished off the breakbast with some fruits (a bowl of Papaya & Banana).

And so this is my entry to "EFM Theme - Breakfast Series" hosted by SriLekha of ME and MY KITCHEN . The logo for the event is ...

* Being a breakfast dish, this is my entry to 'SHOW ME YOUR BREAKFAST' hosted by Divya Vikram of DIL SE. The logo for the event is..

* It makes a great item to be packed in lunch box for kids along with some fruits ...
The chicken in the recipe can be removed or replaced with any or many of the following :
paneer/mushroom/cauliflower florets/carrot/bean/baby corn/corn kernel etc.

I gave some fruits (mango cubed) and hey presto! A wholesome nutrituous snack/light lunch box was ready!
This is my entry to CFK:HEALTHY LUNCH BOXES hosted by NEHA of TASTY RECIPES. The event was started by Sharmi of Naivedyam

The logo of the event is .....

Mishti Doi...Sweet Curd

2009-06-30T07:55:00.005+05:30

MISHTI DOI....the term conjures up an image of an earthen pot (Maatir Bhaar) containing a pink coloured sweetened curd. A must in any traditional Bengali feast. In most households, though the plain white and healthier curd is always homemade and available, Mishti Doi is rarely made at home. There have been occasions, though rare, when I have seen Ma prepare home made Mishti Doi.

So when my neighbour, while we were having our stair-side chatting sessions, asked me the recipe of Mishti Doi, stating casually that her young daughters loved it, I enquired the recipe from Ma and found it surprisingly simple.....

So just to share this simple recipe to dish up a rarely homemade dessert, here I am...

Ingredients : (What I used)

*Full cream milk - 1.5 litres.
*Sugar - 2.5 cups (I meaured the 2.5 cups and it was around 360gm)
*Plain curd - 2 -3 tbsp

Procedure :
1. Boil the 1.5 litre milk and bring it to half the volume.

2. Caramelise the sugar by heating it in a wok. Keep stirring while heating to ensure the caramelised sugar does not stick to the bottom of the wok and burn.

3. Pour the liquid caramelised sugar into the milk. Stir well to mix the milk and sugar. The milk mixed with caramelised sugar will be pinkish brown in colour. If needed you can bring the mix to a boil once again to ensure uniform mixing.

4.Cool milk-sugar mix to lukewarm temperature.

5. Smear the container/s in which you wish to set the curd with the plain white curd.

6. Pour the milk slowly into the curd smeared containers.

7. Cover and keep aside for 8-10 hours to set. (I had to keep for almost 11 hours)

8.Refrigerate to chill the curd

The yummilicious Mishti Doi is all yours to savour!

Tiffin Time - Chicken Roll

2009-06-29T23:35:00.005+05:30

As I mentioned, this is a simple, fast and easy to make Chicken Roll made for my daughter's School Tiffin.

The Chicken in this recipe can be replaced by mutton, fish, paneer, veggies...for that matter ANYTHING!

I used the chicken pieces from last night's chicken curry.

Ingredients

* 2-3 pieces of chicken taken out from chicken curry

* Onion chopped - 1/2

* Tomato chopped - 1/2 (I didnt use tomatoes)

* Green Chillies - chopped (I didnt use chillies)

* Lemon - 1 wedge

* Rock Salt - a pinch

* Aamchur powder/Chaat masala - a pinch (optional)

* Wheat flour to make rotis/chapatis

Procedure

1. Make two (or as many as you require) rotis and keep aside

2. Take two pieces of chicken, shred them

3. In a wok, take 1/2 tsp of oil and just saute the shredded chicken to remove excess moisture

4. Take the roti, spread the shredded & sauted chicken in a straight line along the centre of the roti

5. Throw in some chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, green chillies etc etc.

6. Squeeze some lemon juice and sprinkle the rock salt, Chaat masala/Aamchur powder

7. Roll it as you would a wrap and cover half the roll with a foil/butter paper.

The Chicken Roll is ready !!

Tiffin Trouble!!

2009-06-29T08:16:00.001+05:30

For the past two years, when my daughter AD went to a playschool-cum-daycare, tiffins were not such a break-my-head issue....for the simple reason, mid morning and evening snacks were provided by the school. For lunch, I used to pack a normal lunch like - rice (or its variations)/roti, dal, side dish and curd. The school-cum-daycare heated the food in their kitchen microwave and the kids enjoyed a hot lunch. And since the ayahs and teachers supervised and fed the kids, I knew her lunch was well taken care of.

Now what with her having started proper school, everything has been complicated manifold. She comes home instead of staying at the daycare. The fact pricks me as I was never comfortable keeping her alone with the maid. But then again I dont want to make her travel from school to daycare in the afternoons and again in the evening travel back home...it's too much of travel for a three and a half in a day's time. And since it's a normal school, there arent multiple ayahs taking care of the kids' needs. So tiffin time means she has to eat herself. The teachers on the very first day have given guidelines regarding the tiffins and tiffin boxes :

-This being a 'No-Plastic' year in their school, ONLY steel tiffin boxes to be given
-No Bread & Jam
-Bread Sandwiches are OK, but with healthy fillings
-No chips and chocolate
-No rice or noodles to ensure the classroom floor isnt messed up
-Pooris, Rotis, Idlis, if sent, have to be cut into pieces.

So all in all, quite a few dos and donts. On top of all this, I have to ensure that AD eats what I give her ...hence the tiffin has to be to her liking. And worst of all, my daugher being MY daughter....is genetically designed NOT to like the same food everyday.

Oh...my love and respect for my Ma's ability, patience and creativity has increased several times over in the recent past....how did she manage to pack tasty and healthy tiffins everyday .... for 14 long year...yet I remember clearly that I used to crib and complain!! Motherhood is indeed a learning experience on how it feels to be on the other side of the fence!!!!! ;)

So lately I have been racking my brains to formulate a variety of tiffins for AD which comply with all the above DOs & DONTs, be healthy & nutritious, and yet manage to win her heart and make her eat!

So I sat down and made a table of the various options available :
1. Chicken Roll
2. Fish Roll
3. Paneer Roll
4. Vegetable Roll
5. Alu Paratha
6. Gobi Paratha
7. Palak Paratha
8. Paneer Paratha
9. Chutney Sandwich
10.Chicken Sandwich
11. Fish Sandwich
12. Egg sanwich
13. Cucumber-Tomato Sandwich
14. Cheese-Chicken Sandwich
15. Small cubes of potato+Paneer+sweetcorn, stir fried in butter sprinkled with salt pepper and a little lemon juice squeezed to make it salty, tangy!
16. French Fries
17. Idli
18. Sponge cakes

Fruits & Salads(which dont get messy)
1. Cucumber
2. Tomato
3. Pineapple
4.Apple
5.Pears (she's sporadically fond of them....hence have to check and see)
6. Papaya
7.Orange

So I guess in the posts to come....I'll be posting quite a few of the above or variations of these.
Well only problem is clicking pics at the God forsaken early hours!!!!

CLICK! JUNE 2009 Entry for 'STACKS' - Luchi-Mangsho

2009-06-28T23:11:00.003+05:30

(Fried Indian Flat Bread with Chicken Curry)

Sunday Dinner....what better way to end the lazy weekend and gear up for a Manic Monday, other than, a dinner of Luchi-Maangsho! Sinfully loaded with calories....but once in a while it does good to throw caution to the winds!! So Luchi Mangsho followed by Mishti Doi, it was, for our Sunday dinner....

No recipes for this simple dish....the pic is off to Jugalbandi's CLICK! June 2009 - STACK.

Potoler Daalna ...with a difference!

2009-06-25T00:29:00.000+05:30

I am not fond of Potol or Parwal or Pointed Gourd...but during the scorching summer months, vegetable markets are not at their best. The dull, dried, limp vegetables dont look enticing enough to win one's heart! But well, veggies have to be had and when Potol was the freshest of the lot, had no choice but to buy them.

While peeling the skin of the Potol, the bored me (always the case whenever I have to cook something I'm not fond of) was suddenly reminded of a delicious Potol preparation. I'd had it eons ago, cooked by my grandaunt who was not only a good cook but could make the tedious Potol taste WOW! Unfortunately I didnt know the recipe ...the only memory of the preparation was that it was semi dry with Gobindo Bhog Rice a predominant ingredient (as in Muri Ghonto).

Hence proceeded on similar lines and let me throw humility to the winds and proclaim that the Potol er dalna turned out to be delicious indeed....so much so that I gave myself an imaginary pat on my back!!

I had no plans of blogposting the boring Potoler Dalna and hence hadnt clicked any in-process photographs. But, because it turned out so well, quite like a pleasant surpirse, decided to just click a pic or two without much fanfare and detailed pics....

So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients :
*Potol/Parwal- 1/2 kg - Peeled and halved
* Potato - 2 medium sized - cubed
*Gobindo Bhog / Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup : soaked in water for 15-20 minutes
*Onions - finely chopped - 1
*Tomato - chopped -1
*Whole garam masala- 2-3 cardamoms, 1 piece of 1" cinnamon stick, 3-4 cloves
*Bay Leaf - 2 small
*Masala paste - [1 tsp of Turmeric powder + 1 tsp cumin powder + 1/2 tsp of coriander powder + 1 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp of kashmiri mirch powder (for colour) + 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder (optional) mixed with a little water]
*Ginger paste - 1-2 tsp
*Ghee - 1 tbsp
*Roasted & ground garam masala - 1 tsp
*Sugar - a pinch
*Slit Green chilli - 2-3
*Mustard Oil - 3 tbsp

Procedure :- (In the sequence I do)
1. Soak washed Gobindo Bhog/Basmati rice in water.

2. Rub salt and turmeric on the Potol and Potato pieces and keep for 5-10 minutes

2. Lightly fry the Potol and Potato pieces in oil and keep aside.

3.Take fresh oil in a wok. When hot, add the Bay leaf, whole garam masala

4.Add the finely chopped onions and a pinch of sugar for colour. Add the ginger paste

5. Fry till the onion turns light brown but take care not to burn them.

6. Add the masala paste. Stir and let the masala cook till you see the oil & masala separate.

7. Add the chopped tomatoes

8. Keep stirring and cook on low to medium heat for about 6-8 minutes. Sprinkle water if required.

9. Add the uncooked Gobindo Bhog/Basmati rice. Stir well and let the masala seep into the rice.

10. Add the pre-fried potato cubes. Add some water (about 1/2 glass)

12. Keep cooking and when the rice is semi cooked in the masala and the potato is partly cooked, add the fried Potol pieces.

13. Stir well and add some more water if it has become too dry.

14. Cook on low heat for another 3-5 minutes till the rice is just right and not overcooked and mushy.

15. Add the slit green chillies

16. Before switching off the flame, heat the ghee in a skillet and add a tsp of roasted & ground garam masala and add this to the almost done 'Potoler Daalna'.

Enjoy with hot steamed rice!

Note : I think in the preparation I'd had eons ago, Ghee had been used instead of oil. This had added much much more to the taste. While I, belonging to the relatively more health conscious generation (rather forced-to-be health conscious thanks to the cholestrols & triglycerides), had to be content with just a dash of ghee at the very end.

Paneer Tandoori

2009-06-04T23:45:00.010+05:30

( Cottage Cheese marinated in curd and grilled )

I had this paneer preparation at a friend's place. And upon asking her the recipe, she said, just marinate the paneer cubes in curd, mixed with ginger-garlic & all masalas...grill it for 5 minutes and the Paneer is ready! It sounded simply simple....

So when I bought Paneer this week, thought of making this preparation. The Paneer cubes were diced and I was about to mix the 'masalas' into the curd, when something just didnt feel right! It was quite late (as I had presumed it'll be a fast to cook recipe, I had started just about 1/2 hr prior to dinner time...), so couldnt really call her up to enquire about the detailed recipe....

Well, kept the paneer back into the fridge, placed the curd in a cheese cloth (I use a big, clean piece of Dhoti as a Cheese Cloth ;) ) and hung it overnight.

[As you realise, the paneer had to be postponed to the next day and for that night's dinner had to fry some sausages !]

Next evening resumed the process and thereafter it was quite simple indeed!

Ingredients :
A. Basic
* Paneer - 300 gm
* Hung Curd - around 500 gm (made from Curd made out of 1.5 litres milk approx)
* Capsicum diced - 1 big or 1 & 1/2 small
* Tomatoes diced - 1 big
* Onions - Diced - 2
* Green Chilli - 3-4 slit longitudinally

B. Spices
* Ginger - 1 tbsp
* Garlic - 1 tbsp
* Haldi/Turmeric - 1 tsp
* Dhania / Coriander powder - 1 tsp
* Jeera / Cumin powder - 1 tsp
* Red Chilli pwder- 1 tsp
* Kashmiri Chilli pwder - 1 tsp
* Black pepper pwder - 1/2 tsp
* Kasuri Methi - 1 tsp (soaked in warm water)
* Sugar - to taste
* Salt - to taste

Procedure

1. Prepare the hung curd by folding curd in a cheese cloth or thin muslin cloth and hanging it for 4-5 hrs for the water / whey to drip out. I placed the cheese cloth with curd folded in it on my bigh plastic strainer and placed the strainer on a tall steel container.

2. Mix all ingredients at 'B' with the hung curd and beat the curd-masala mix well with a spoon.

3. Marinate the paneer cubes in the above prepared Curd-masala mix for 2 hrs minimum (I kept for exactly 2 hrs for lack of time)

4. If you have a Tandoor Oven or an OTG, use either of these, for best results. I used my Microwave Oven with Grilling mode, as my OTG is out of order and I dont have the other one. (I'm seriously planning to buy the Tandoor Oven)

5. Spray some oil in an ovenproof container. Place half the quantity of diced capsicum, onion and tomatoes and sprinkle some salt and chilli powder. With a spoon turn them around in the container to coat them with the oil. I microwaved these using the Microwave + Grill mode, for 3-4 minutes.

6. Pour the marinated Paneer into the container. Garnish with the remaining capsicum, onion and tomatoes. Spray some oil on top. Again microwave using the Microwave + Grill mode, for 7-8 minutes. Then, again on ONLY Grill mode, let it cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Serve HOT with Parathas or Naan. We had them with Phulkas.

Iced Tea

2009-06-01T23:34:00.002+05:30

Come hot-summer Sunday afternoon and the heart cries out for something dizzyingly chilled!
And so this Sunday, it was the turn of my favourite ICED TEA!!!

Lazing around, swinging on my backyard swing and sipping the Iced Tea, I let the tangy, chilled taste take over and soothe my senses ....

Ingredients : what I used to make 5 tall glasses of Iced Tea
*Water - 5 1/2 glasses of water
*Darjeeling Tea - 5 tsp
*Sugar - 5 tsp
*Black salt - 1 tsp
*Lemon - 4 for juices and 2 sliced for dunking into the tea and for garnishing at the glass rim
*Mint Leaves - 10-12

*Ice Cubes - as many as you want

Procedure :
Normal Black Tea is to be made as follows :
1. Boil the water.
2. In a teapot or vessel(if you dont have such a large teapot), take 5 tsp of tealeaves and pour the boiling water on the leaves. Cover and let it brew for 2-3 minutes or till the leaves sink to the bottom. Do not brew for too long, as the tea will become bitter.
3.Use a strainer to pour the brewed tea into a jug or another container. The tea should be golden brown in colour.
4. Now add sugar, rocksalt(optional), lemon juice.
5.Refrigerate (in the freezer) for 1/2 hour. Add the mint leaves, lemon slices and keep in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes.
6.Take tall glasses to which drop some ice cubes and pour the chilled tea.

Aaahhh Bliss!!!

Palak Paratha

2009-05-30T23:14:00.003+05:30

Indian Bread with Spinach filling

When the kitchen inventory on a Friday evening is dwindling, and the only ray of hope is some Palak, other than Potatoes, Onions, not much choice is there for dinner. Normally when such ocassion arises, we eat out or order for a takeaway...but the mood wasnt right for either.

So decided to prepare ONLY PARATHAS....Palak Parathas to be precise. To be had with a bowlful of homemade curd with a sprinkling of masalas!

So here goes the recipe for the Palak Paratha :

Ingredients
A. For the Dough:
* Ata / whole-wheat flour - 2 cups
* Salt - a pinch
* Water to knead

B. For the Palak/Spinach filliing:
* Jeera / Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
* Hing/Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
* Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
* Black pepper powder - 1/2
* Salt to taste
* green Chillies - chopped finely (optional)
* Spinach - 12 small bunches ; washed and chopped finely

C. Others
* Oil - for frying the Palak filling & for frying the Parathas
* Ghee
* Ata for rolling the parathas

Procedure : In the sequence I made
DOUGH

1. For making the dough, mix flour, salt and water and knead well to make a soft dough.
2. Cover and keep aside for about 15 minutes till you prepare the Palak filling

FILLING
3. Heat oil in a wok. Add all ingredients at 'B' except the chopped Palak

4. Fry for 5-10 seconds on medium

5. Add the palak.

6. Increase the flame to high and stir the palak and keep frying for around 7-8 minutes or till the water has evaporated. Lower the heat and continue frying till the palak is a devoid of most of water. Take off the flame and cool it.

7. Divide the cooled Palak filling into 10 parts.

THE FINAL PRODUCT STUFFED PARATHA
8. Like in making roti/paratha, pinch of balls off the dough, roll them into smooth balls.

9.Roll them into small rotis, place the palak filling in the centre. Fold up the small roti with filling in centre into a bowl and finally seal it and again roll into ball. Repeat this with all the 10 balls.

10.Keep the stuffed balls for about 5 minutes and then start rolling the parathas

11. Take an iron tawa and heat it. Place each paratha on the tawa and turn it around. Smear some oil/ghee (I used oil) on each side by flipping the paratha

*When serving, smear each paratha with a small spoonful of hot ghee.

*I served the Parathas with homemade curd with a sprinkling of black salt, chilli flakes and roasted and ground Jeera powder

Note : I made 10 parathas using the above measurements and a small quantity of dough (for 1 and 1/2 rotis) was extra

This recipe is my entry to SWC-Cooking with Greens, an event hosted by Sowmya of Creative Saga. The logo of the event is....

Water Melon Drink

2009-05-24T15:07:00.006+05:30

Scorching heat. The dry moisture-less air parching your throat and the body begging for fluids.

Just the right backdrop for chilled fresh fruit drinks...which not only quenches your thirst much better that the synthetic fizzy drinks but gives the body the much needed minerals and nutrients so easily lost the the unending heat!

So here's the recipe for a chilled and pretty red glass of water melon drink!

Ingredients : One medium sized melon yielded three tall glasses of drink

* One Water Melon (or as many as you need)

* A tsp of sugar

* Ice cubes

Procedure :

1. Scoop out the pulp of the water melon and de-seed (that's the troublesome part!)

2. Put the de-seeded pulp, crushed ice/ice cubes and sugar in a blender. Blend to a smooth paste. Add chilled water if required.

3. Pour into glasses and let the heat take a backseat while you savour the bright red drink!!!

Kashmiri Chicken

2009-05-23T21:27:00.002+05:30

A chicken preparation sans onions, ginger, garlic???!!! I almost shook my head in disbelief!

But my cousin, who had learned this from an authentic Kashmiri, reiterated that, the recipe was exactly so....

So when I was cleaning the chicken and readying it for cooking, I took half of the 1kg pack and with some trepidation (anticipating a complete faux pas) got down to making the onion-garlic-ginger-less KASHMIRI CHICKEN. SD was warned in advace to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst....

Well....Thank God! The end result was a refreshingly non-spicy, light preparation with a lovely flavour of cinnamon, cardamom in a tangy curd based gravy. The oil was a bit more, but that's my fault....oil needed to be used sparingly-I'll keep that in mind next time...But all in all a nice and light preparation-perfect for a summer afternoon!

Ingredients : What I used
- Chicken - 1/2 kg (8-9 medium sized pieces)
- Cinnamon sticks - 6-7 , 1" long pieces
- Cardamon - 5-6 green ones (though the recipe demanded the black ones, but I didnt have any)
- Curd - one whole bowl made of 500ml milk - beaten to a smooth texture
- Turmeric/Haldi - a pinch
- Salt to taste
- Sugar - 2 tsp
- Green Chillies - 2-3 slit
- Fresh Coriander Leaves - chopped
- Mustard Oil - 2 tbsp (I had used more but next time this is the quantity I'll use)

Procedure :
1. Clean the chicken pieces

2. In a wok, take water.

Add a pinch of turmeric, cinnamon sticks, cardamoms and the chicken pieces. Cover the wok and bring to a boil on low flame.

3. Boil until the chicken is just tender.

4. In a wok take mustard oil and heat it.
When the oil is warm add cardamoms and the chicken pieces.
Lightly fry the chicken.

5. After the chicken is lightly fried, add curd paste mixed with turmeric, little bit of sugar and salt. Let the gravy comen to a boil and thicken. Check for salt and sugar

6. When the gravy thickens, add finely chopped coriander leaves.

Eat with hot white rice!

This dish is my entry to 'The Potluck-Chicken' hosted by Viki of Viki's Kitchen. The logo of the event is

Breakfast in a jiffy!!

2009-05-13T01:20:00.010+05:30

Running late in the morning? ....well, happens to me quite quite often....on most occasions, I have this tremendous urge to skip breakfast altogether or just gulp down a cupfull of tea with a Marie. But there are days when, the stomach grumbles in protest and asks for something filling.

This is for such late yet hungry mornings....when cooking up in a jiffy is the name of the game....
Bread and Microwaved Poached Egg with my personal touch!!! ;))

Total time would be less than 10 minutes even if you count the time taken to chop the onion and chilli.

Ingredients :
*Egg - 1
*Wheat bread - 1 slice (as per your requirement)

A. To be added to the egg
*Finely chopped onions - 1/2 small onion (I keep 3-4 onions chopped in an air tight container in the fridge)

*Chopped Green chilli - 1

*Ginger paste/juice - 1/4 tsp
*Salt to taste
*Pepper - 1/2 tsp
*Chilli flakes - a pinch (optional)

Procedure :
1. Put the bread slice/s in the preset toaster.

2. Break an egg in a small microwaveable bowl. Take care not to break the yolk

3.Garnish the egg with all ingredients at 'A'

4. Microwave for a minute (maximum). You may cover it with a microwave proof plastic cling film.

5. Butter the toast. (Optional....these days I resist the temptation and refrain from buttering the toast!)

The breakfast of Bread and Poached Egg is READY and you're done in less than 10 minutes flat!!

Brown Bread, Egg and a cup of Darjeeling Tea...
that's a quick and healthy breakfast for me!!!

So here it goes to the Blogevent 'SHOW ME YOUR RECIPE' EVENT hosted by Divya Vikram of DIL SE... !!

The logo of the event is....

Fish Fry

2009-05-09T19:29:00.009+05:30

Fish Fry or Fish Finger is one of my favourite starters! And when I saw a 2.25 kg Bhetki on my weekend market trip, I ordered it to be cut into fillet.....

So here goes the recipe for Fish Fry.....Fish finger recipe would be the same....only difference is the starting point-instead of square or rectangular fillet, the fish has to be cut into thin strips of 3/4" x 3" dimension approximately....

Ingredients : What I used
Bhetki fillet - about 12 - 15 pieces of 2"x2.5" dimension (no hard and fast rule though!)

A. For marination
* Ginger paste : 1 tbsp
* Garlic paste : 1 tbsp
* Onion paste or juice of onion : 2 tbsp paste or 3-4 tbsp juice (I used paste)
* Green chilli paste - 1 tsp (optional)
* Coriander leaves - chopped fine (optional)
* Chilli flakes - 1 tsp (optional)
* Vinegar or lemon juice - 3-4 tbsp
* Freshly ground black pepper - 1 tsp
* Salt - to taste

B. For the coating :
*Arrowroot powder / Cornflour - 3-4 tbsp
*Bread crumbs : 2 cups OR Bread Slices (stale ones preferred) - 5-6 nos. (see below to check out how to prepare breadcrumbs @ home)

Procedure :
1. Marinate the washed and cleaned fish pieces in a mix of all ingredients at 'A'. I refrigerate the marinated fish in an airtight box overnight.

2. Prepare the breadcrumb as shown below ##

3. In a flat bottomed bowl, mix the arrowroot/cornflour with water to make a paste of thin consistency.

4. In a flat plate, take the bread crumb and make an even layer.

5. Take each marinated Fish piece, dip it into the thin batter of arrowroot/cornflour , immediately followed by rolling in the bread crumb to form an uniform coating. Repeat for all the fish pieces.

6. In a deep flat bottomed frying pan, take the oil, heat it and fry the bread crumb coated fish pieces. Take out the fish fries and place them on a kitchen tissue to soak off the excess oil.

7. Serve with Salads and/or Mustard sauce (Kashundi) or any other sauce of your liking!

# Preparing Bread Crumbs @ Home :
-Take the stale breads (Fresh bread contains lots of moisture and hence is not too suitable for making crumbs)
-Place them in a flat tray in the microwave oven. Heat it in microwave for 2 minutes on medium heat. After completion of 2 minutes, keep it in the microwave for another 2-3 minutes for the bread slices to harden.
-Take out the hardened bread slices, break them into small pieces and put them in a mixie/dry grinder.
-Just run it for 5-10 seconds, to get fresh bread crumbs instantly!

Palong Shaak Sheddho

2009-05-04T21:16:00.005+05:30

Steamed Palak with Peas, garlic and garnished with fried onions

A healthy, tasty and most importantly easy and fast-to-cook dish.

In traditional Bengali cuisine, we begin the lunch meal on a bitter note followed by any leafy greens....or shaak in Bengali. Spinach (Palong shaak), radish greens (Mulor Shaak), Fenugreek leaves (Methi shaak)...the list is endless.

So to say that Bongs are carnivorous and love their meat (especially fish) only, is absolutely wrong! Bengalis are omnivorous...'Shorbobhook'!...We love our veggies as much as we love our fish and meat! And we prefer the veggies in less spice so that they retain their natural flavour!

As serving authentic 6-7 course traditional meals is way out of my limited capability on a routine basis, it is either a bitter start OR a leafy one that is our first course on a Sunday / holiday lunch meal..

So yesterday it was Paalong Shaak sheddho (steamed Palak/Spinach) with Peas, Garlic slices and garnished with fried onions, as the first course in lunch

The recipe....

Ingredients :
*Spinach/Palak - 10 small bunches
*Garlic - 2 pods, sliced finely
*Peas - a handful
*Onion - half - chopped
*Green chilli - 2
*Salt-to taste
*Sugar-a pinch
*Mustard Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure :
1. Wash the Palak and chop the leaves into small pieces.

2. In a wok, take the finely chopped Palak, add the peas, green chillies, sliced garlic, salt & sugar.
No Oil or water is to be added.

3.Lower the flame and cover the wok. The Palak will cook in its own water. Once the palak has softened, increase the heat to dry the water given out by the Palak.

4. After the water has dried, take it off the flame.

5. Fry some chopped onions in a little oil till it is brown in colour. A pinch of salt & sugar may be added.

6.Garnish the steamed palak with the fried onions.

It tastes great with steamed rice.

This recipe is off to '15 minutes Cooking' hosted by Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen

And also sending this recipe to SWC-Cooking with Greens, an event hosted by Sowmya of Creative Saga. The logo of the event is....

Aamer Ambol

2009-05-03T12:57:00.006+05:30

Raw Mango in a light watery soup

Come summers and the kitchen becomes a sea of orange, yellow and green! Gorgeous mangoes in all its various hues and avatars, rule the roost so to say....be it the morning breakfast with mango smoothie, the mid morning fruity break with mangoes, the afternoon dessert of mango custard or mango pudding, a cool smoked raw mango drink to beat the heat, mango chutney, just mangoes and oh so many more delicious mouth watering mango delights to fill the day!

So today when my Ma's friends, an elderly couple, was coming over for lunch, I decided to go for a traditional Bengali summer lunch and dish out the oh-so-soothing Aam er Ambol as the last but final item on the menu, right before the desserts of Doi-mishti. As I have written earlier (here), Chaatni, tok or Ambol is the penultimate item in a traditional Bengali meal, the final one being doi-mishti (Curd and sweet).

So here goes the recipe of the simplest of simple preparation :
Ingredients :
# Raw Mango - 3
#Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
#Dry Whole red chilli - 1
#Sugar - 100 gms or sugar syrup - 1 cup (I used up the leftover syrup after making roshogollas)
#Rock salt - 1/2 tsp
#Chilli flakes - a pinch (optional)
#Mustard Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure :
1. Slice the raw mangoes longitudinally as shown.

2. In a wok, heat the mustard oil. Throw into the oil, mustard seeds and dry whole red chilli.

3.As it splutters, add the sliced raw mango pieces. Add the sugar/sugar syrup. Add 4-5 cups of water. Cover with a lid, lower the flame and let it come to a boil

4. As it boils, sprinkle the rocksalt. Check the taste and if required add some more sugar and salt.

5. Sprinkle a pinch of red chilli flakes (optional)

6. Take it off the flame and chill.

The Aam er Ambol (Pronounced Awmbol as in Awful) is ready to be savoured after lunch or dinner!

The Evergreen Palak Paneer

2009-04-26T09:08:00.009+05:30

Cottage cheese in a spinach gravy

The forever favourite Paneer dish is what I made as the main course when a vegetarian couple came over for dinner last week. Without much ado, I'll get down to business and jot down the recipe.....

Ingredients :
A.For the Green paste :
*Palak : 12 small bunches
*Pudina - a small sprig (Optional....my vegetable vendor always gives me a complimentary sprig or Pudina ;))
*Green Chilli -1 or 2
*Salt - 1 tsp
*Sugar - 1/2 tsp

B.Other Ingredients :
*Paneer : 400 gms (cut into small cubes or any shape you desire)
*Kesuri Methi - 1 tbsp (Optional), soaked in 1/2 cup of warm water

*Whole garam masala - 2 elaichi; 1 medium stick of cinnamon; 2 cloves*Bay Leaf -1
*Onion paste - 1 bowl
*Tomato paste - 1 bowl
*Ginger past - 1 tsp
*Cumin (Jeera) powder - 1tsp
*Coriander (Dhaniya/Dhone) powder - 1tsp
*Fresh Cream - 2 tbsp (Since I did not have it, I substituted as given in 'C')
*Ghee - 2 tsp
*Roasted and powdered Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
*Flour :3-4 tbsp
* Oil - 4 tbsp

C.Fresh Cream Substitute :
*Fresh malai obtained after milk is boiled - 2tbsp
*Grate cheese : 1 cube
In a pan add the blended fresh malai and the grated cheese. Bring to a boil. Spinkle some water if to thick. Keep aside.

Procedure :
1. Blend all ingredients at 'A'. Keep aside.
2. In a wok, heat the Oil and throw in bay leaf, whole garam masala and whole jeera and a dash of sugar. Let them splutter and give off their lovely aroma
3. Add the onion paste and fry till it turns a light brown.
4. Add the ginger paste
5. Add the tomato paste and stir for sometime.
6. Add the masala paste made of jeera+dhaniya and cook the masala well.
7. Add the blended green paste. Add salt. Stir well to mix the masala and the palak paste for 3-5 minutes.
8. Add the cubed paneer and continue stirring slowly to ensure that the paneer does not break.
9. Add the soaked kasuri methi along with the water. Mix well
10. Cover the wok with a lid, lower the flame and let it cook till it comes to a boil. Check once in a while so that the gravy doesnt burn at the botton.
11. Mix the flour (ata) with some water to make a medium consistency past. Add to the boiling gravy and mix very well. This gives the gravy a smooth and creamy consistency.
12. In a small skillet, heat the ghee and add the roasted garam masala powder and add to the palak paneer gravy is it boils in the wok. Mix.
13. Take it off the flame and add the fresh cream or the substitute I made as at 'C'

Palak paneer tastes good with Paratha, Roti or Rice

This recipe is my entry to SWC-Cooking with Greens, an event hosted by Sowmya of Creative Saga. The logo of the event is....

Sunday Brunch with Pizza

2009-04-20T01:30:00.014+05:30

The weekly grocery shopping is a chore I enjoy on most Saturday evenings. Normally its something SD and I do together. But yesterday since he was working, I went on my own and AD was bored and hence latched on to me...Once we reached the supermarket, and she was let free, pandemonium reigned supreme when completely unwanted stuff were being hurled into my cart in the guise of "helping you, Ma!". And since I didnt want to break her heart and more importantly didnt want a tantrum in a public place, I let her enjoy her shopping expedition. But as casually as possible and without drawing her attention, I would keep back the stuff at their places on the shelves. This is how, as I was about to return the packets of Pizza Breads, I touched the soft & superfresh breads and decided to keep them. It had been ages since I made Pizza @ home! I let the heart rule the head and decided a day's cheesy indulgence wouldnt be earth shattering !

So as I continued shopping I picked up some mushrooms, mozarella cheese...the remaining stuff were available at home!

Ingredients :

*Pizza Breads - 4

*mozzarella cheese - 300gm

* Butter

* Oregano (I use FABINDIA's Oregano+Chilli mix)

* Italian Seasoning (I use FABINDIA's Italian Seasoning)

* Chilli flakes (optional)

A.For the Topping

Aa) MUSHROOM-CAPSICUM STIR FRY

*Button Mushrooms - 1 packet (200gm)

*Onion (diced) - 1 large or 2 small

*Capsicum (diced) - 1

*Garlic sliced - 3-4 pods

*Green Chillies - 1 or 2 (chopped fine)

*Crushed Pepper Corns - 1 tsp

*Red Chilli flakes - 1 tsp

*Sugar - a pinch

*Salt to taste

*White Oil - 2 tbsp

Ab) MINCED CHICKEN STIR FRY

*Minced Chicken - 200gm

*Onion (Finely chopped) - 1

*Tomato (finely chopped) - 1

*Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp

*Italian Seasoning - a sprinkling

*Chilli-Oregano seasoning - a sprinking

*White Oil - 2 tbsp

B. SAUCE :

Normally I blanch and puree fresh tomatoes, but since I was in a hurry, decided to use ONLY tomato ketchup.

*Tomato ketchup : 1.5 cup (if fresh tomato puree is being used, I use 3-4 tomatoes + 1/2 cup ketchup for the sauce)
*Garlic sliced - 3-4 pods

*Basil (Tulsi) leaves -5-6
*Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

*Pepper pod - crushed - 3-4

*Sugar, Salt - if required
*Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Procedure :
1. Prepare the Mushroom-Capsicum Stir Fry with all the ingredients at 'Aa'

2. Prepare the Minced Chicken Stir Fry with all ingredients at 'Ab'

3. Prepare the sauce with all ingredients at 'B'. First fry the sliced garlic in oil and add the tomato ketchup/tomato puree. If required make the consistency a bit thin by adding water. After it boil, add crushed pepper, basil leaves, Italian seasoning, Oregano and let it boil for a few more seconds before you take it off the flame.

4.Take each pizza bread. Smear with a tsp of butter.

5. Smear with a thick layer of the tomato sauce.

6. Sprinkle some grated cheese.

7. Arrange the toppings of chicken & mushroom as you like.

8. Again drizzle grated cheese as per your liking

9. Sprinkle pepper, chilli flakes, Italian seasoning, oregano powder.

10. Put it in the oven. My convection mode in microwave was not working. Hence I put it in Micro+Grill mode for 10-15 minutes or till the cheese melts.

Award & a Tag

2009-04-19T11:56:00.004+05:30

Thanks a ton Kalpana for your awards!

And now the TAG! My first tag, so to say ! As I keep putting the tags aside and conveniently forget about them! So this time I thought I will take up the tag immediately...so here goes my number tag!

1 : My one and only one Princess! My daughter AD..

2 : We are 2 sisters...Mydarlin baby sister, though all grown up with a career of her own, is still a baby to me

3 : My AD's age....she's all of three and going on 13!!!

4 : Members in our family photograph till I tied the knot! ;))

5 : The essential Paanch (5) Phoron in my kitchen! The ubiquitous Bengali spice Paanch Phoron consists of 5 spices - Nigella seeds (Kalo jeera), Fenugreek seeds (Methi), Fennel Seeds (Saunf/Mouri), Cumin Seeds(Jeera), Wild Celery seeds (Radhuni)

6 : My years with SD.... a heady concoction spiced with love, squabbles, temper, friendship and garnished with fun and fights, laughter and tears!

7 : The number of years I have spent away from my hometown after starting my career!

8 : The time in the morning when I finish my morning cuppa and start getting ready for the day!

9 : The number of kilograms I have put on since AD was born!! :(((((

10: At night it's Dinner time for us!! :)))

I would like to pass on the awards and the tag to RINKU, SUDESHNA, YASMEEN & SHARMILIA.

Fish Croquette aka Fish Chop

2009-04-19T01:14:00.002+05:30

A common snack / starter in almost all Bengali households. The most recent occasion when I made these delicious & easy-to-make hors d'oeuvres was during the Poila Boishakh celebrations last Sunday...again photographs arent what I wanted them to be.....taking pictures just got pushed to the backburner of priorities!

The typical Fish Croquette or Maachher Chop is a mashed and spiced fish fillet in an envelope of mashed potato, rolled into a sphere/oval shaped, coated with bread crumbs and deepfried.

Due to lack of time to make this elaborate enveloped preparation, I cut a step short. The shortcut methodology didnt deter the taste one bit.....if I needed proof of its success, I got it, when I before I knew, the plates of the fishchops were being emptied!! :)

So here goes my recipe :

Ingredients :

#Katla / Rohu fish : 1.5 kg

#Ginger paste : 1 tsp
#Garlic paste : 1tsp

#Onion (finely chopped) : 1 medium

#Bay Leaf : 1

#Whole Garam Masala : 2 elaichi; 2-3 cloves; 1 medium cinnamon stick

#Salt : to taste

#Sugar : a pinch

#Turmeric : a pinch

#Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

#Red chilli powder : 1/2tsp

#Roasted and powdered Cumin : 3/4 tsp

#Green Chillies (finely chopped) - 1 or 2 (depending on spice/heat tolerance factor)

#Oil : 2 tbsp & 250ml for deep frying

#Potatoes : 5-6 medium to large potatoes - boiled and mashed

#Arrowroot powder / Cornflour - 3-4 tbsp

#Bread crumbs : 2 cups OR Bread Slices (stale ones preferred) - 5-6 nos. (see below to check out how to prepare breadcrumbs @ home)

Procedure :

1. Wash the fish pieces. Marinate the fish pieces with ginger-garlic paste, a pinch of salt and turmeric for 5 minutes. Steam the marinated fish for 8-10 minutes. Let it cool.

2. Mash the steamed fish and carefully remove the bones. Mash it to a smooth paste

3. Mix the mashed fish with mashed potatoes, add the desired salt and knead well to ensure no lumps are present.

4. In a wok, heat some oil. Throw in the bay leaf and whole garam masala.

5. As it splutters, add the finely chopped onions and a dash of sugar for taste & caramelisation

6. Fry the onions till brown, but not burnt. Add the turmeric, cumin powder, red chilli paste and cook the masala well to eliminate the raw smell.

7. Add the mix of mashed potatoes + mashed fish. Stir well and mix it uniformly with the onion-masala paste. The mixing should be uniform and the raw taste of potato & fish should be totally eliminated. It takes around 12-15 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure the mashed mix does not burn!

8. Sprinkle some roasted and ground garam masala just before taking the mashed mix off the flame. And again mix well.

9. The fish chop filling is ready for the shaping, moulding and coating to begin.

10. Let it cool. Pinch off 2-2.5" sized lumps and roll them into spheres or circular tablets or any shape you desire! The outer surface should be smooth.

11. In a flat bottomed bowl, mix the arrowroot/cornflour with water to make a paste of thin consistency.

12. In a flat plate, take the bread crumb and make an even layer.

13. Take each shaped fish chop, dip it into the arrowroot/cornflour thin batter, immediately followed by rolling in the bread crumb to form an uniform coating. Repeat for all the chops.

14. In a deep flat bottomed frying pan, take the oil, heat it and fry the chops. Take out the fried chops and place them on a kitchen tissue to soak off the excess oil.

15. Serve with Salads and/or Mustard sauce (Kashundi) or any other sauce of your liking!

Preparing Bread Crumbs @ Home :

-Take the stale breads (Fresh bread contains lots of moisture and hence is not too suitable for making crumbs)

-Place them in a flat tray in the microwave oven. Heat it in microwave for 2 minutes on medium heat. After completion of 2 minutes, keep it in the microwave for another 2-3 minutes for the bread slices to harden.

-Take out the hardened bread slices, break them into small pieces and put them in a mixie/dry grinder.

-Just run it for 5-10 seconds, to get fresh bread crumbs instantly!

The above post, which I had posted just after our Bengali New Years or POILA BOISHAKH, is my entry for "Sunday Snack: Festive Snack of Navratri and Diwali" hosted by Indrani of APPYAYAN.

For us Bongs, Fish Croquette aka Maachher Chop is an all time favourite and not restricted to any particular festival or ritual. And foodies that we are, these Autumn festivities which are so intrinsic to our being is the perfect time to enjoy and savour all the delicious savouries!

The logo for the event is ...

Chingri Machher Malaikari

2009-04-18T00:30:00.008+05:30

Prawns cooked in Coconut milk

Away from Kolkata on Poila Boishaakh was indeed depressing and more so when the Bengali New Year was on a weekday! Bengali New Years Day or Poila Boishaakh celebration is all about families, friends meeting up, feasting on sumptuous food and indulging in Nirbhejaal Adda!

So just couldnt reconcile to the fact that the first day of Boishaakh would be spent working as usual....but there was no option! The best we could do and did was have a Naboborsho get-together in advance....so we invited our Bong friends over on Sunday afternoon...thereby advancing our Naboborsho by just three days. It was a wonderful afternoon and the adda rolled well into evening....

Coming back to the Chingri Maachher Malaikari...this was one of the main courses on that day. Cooking for lunch is always a high speed affair...one cannot afford the leisurely pace of a dinner party...hence photography was my last priority and hence forgot to click several steps or ingredients and the finished product was also photographed almost towards the end of the party...maybe I will amend the pics at a later date when I make this again !

So here comes the recipe :

Ingredients I used:
*Prawns (medium sized) -1250 gms (large prawns are better for this dish)
*Coconut - 1
*Onion - 1 large (finely chopped)
*Tomato - 2 small - finely chopped
*Ginger - 1tsp
*Garlic - 3/4 tsp
*Bay Leaf - 1
*Whole Garam Masala - 2 elaichi; 2-3 cloves; 1 medium cinnamon stick
*Haldi - 1.5 tsp
*Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
*Kashmiri Chilli powder - 1tsp
*Salt - to taste
*Sugar - a pinch
*Roasted and ground Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
*Ghee - 1.5 tbsp
*Green Chilli - 2-3
*Potato - 1 medium - diced into small cubes and fried lightly (this is totally optional...I like potatoes with anything and hence add it)
*Mustard Oil - 3-4 tbsp

Procedure : In the order I prepared :
1. Wash, clean and devein prawns. Marinate the cleaned prawns with mustard oil, salt, turmeric for 15 minutes

2. Coconut milk preparation :
a. Grate the coconut.
b. Put the grated coconut in a mixie and run it for 5-10 seconds
c. In a wok, mix the coconut paste with 1/2 glass of water and bring to a boil. Let it boil vigorously. Take it off the heat.
d. Once the boiled 'coconut paste in water mix' is cooled, pass it through a clean cheese cloth and squeeze out the coconut milk till the residue doesnt have any moisture in it.
e. Keep the coconut milk aside for use at a later stage.

3. Saute the marinated prawns lightly. Keep aside

4. Heat a wok; pour the mustard oil

5. When hot, temper with whole garam masala, bay leaf.

6. Add the garlic paste, finely chopped onions and a dash of sugar for colour (sugar caramelizes to give the brown colour)

7. When the onion turns a light brown, add ginger followed by chopped tomatoes. Stir well to do away with the rawness of the onion, tomato, ginger-garlic.

8. Add the turmeric + chilli powder + kashmiri chilli + salt (mixed with a little water to make a paste). Stir to cook the masala.

9. Add the cubed and fried potato. Keep stirring till the oil separates from the masala.

10. Add the coconut milk. Cook on low heat.

11. Add the sauted prawns. Stir to mix. Cover the wok with a lid and continue cooking on low flame.

12. Let the gravy comes to a boil and thicken to desired consistency (if too thick, water may be added). Add the slit green chillies.

13. In a skillet heat the ghee and sprinkle the roasted and ground garam masala and when it sizzles in the ghee, pour it on the boiling Chingri (Prawn) curry. Mix well.

The Chingri Maachher Malaikari is ready to eat with steamed rice.

Shubho Naboborsho!

2009-04-15T13:32:00.003+05:30

Shubho Naboborshe shokolke janai priti o shubhechha!

Today being Bengali New Year's Day, I wish you all
A VERY HAPPY BANGLA NEW YEAR!!

For us Bongs, Naboborsho celebrations are all about friends and family, getting together .. food, feast and adda are must haves on this occasion of New Years!

Living away from my hometown of Kolkata, today is a working day....

Keeping this in mind, we celebrated our Poila Boishakh (1st day of the first month of the new year 1416) last Sunday with friends....it was an enjoyable gathering of friends and their families!

Pics : courtesy my friend Hrsikesa who wished me this morning a Shubho Naboborsho with this deluge of pics which made my mouth water......

Bhetki Hariyali

2009-04-13T00:21:00.020+05:30

My Ma introduced me to this dish...she had first tasted it at a Wedding Feast (Biye Baari). She being the great cook she is, made this awesome fish preparation abiding by the instructions of her taste buds!

Much later, after marriage, when I was the one who had to do the cooking whenever friends or relatives came over, instead of just placing my 'order' to Ma, I improvised Ma's green fish recipe, made it microwaveable and hence easier, faster and hassle-free.

This dish has never failed to score brownie points whenever it has been on the menu when I entertained and its ease of preparation makes it one of my favourite recipes.

Ingredients:
A. For the marinade :
- Vinegar : 4-6 tbsp
- Ginger : 1tbsp
- Garlic : 3/4 tbsp
- Chilli flakes : 1 tsp (or depending on your spice preference)
- Black Pepper (freshly crushed) :1 tsp
- Salt : 1 tsp

B. Other Ingredients
- Bhetki fillet - 750gm
- Coriander leaves - 2-3 big bunches
- Green chillies (1 or 2)
- Pudina leaves - 1 small bunch
- Pearl onions - abt 10-15 (I didnt have pearl onion, so I used normal onions, diced)
- Cream - 2 tbsp (optional)
- Capsicum : 1 big or 2 small- diced

Procedure:-
Fish
- Mix all the items at 'A' of Ingredients to prepare the marinade
- Now marinate the washed and cleaned fish fillets. For my convenience, I marinate overnight and cook in the morning. In case of hurry, 1/2 hours marination is sufficient.
- Grill or pan fry the marinated fish fillets. (This is an optional step and may be skipped)

Green Sauce Paste :
- Wash and roughly chop the coriander and mint leaves.
- Put them in a Mixie. Add a dash of sugar and salt, one or two green chillies. Make a smooth paste.

Assembling to bake :
- In a non-stick pan, stir fry the pearl onion and diced capsicum
- In a microwave proof deep container, spray/smear some oil.
- Arranged a layer of the fried pearl Onion and capsicum (keep a small quantity aside) in the cooking container.
- Pour half the quantity of green sauce paste on the fried pearl onions.
- Arrange the grilled / fried fish pieces.
- Cover with the remaining green sauce paste.
- Garnish with the remaining sauted diced onion/pearl and capsicum and a dash of cream (cream is optional).
- Bake it in microwave mode for 7-10 minutes.
The fish is ready to eat.

Note: Sorry about the awful formatting in this post...Blogger has been extremely non-cooperative...So till I reformat this post, please bear with me...
I had forgotten to click a pic of the Pudina/mint leaves. And this picture was taken from Google images

Aam Pora Shorbot

2009-04-11T01:18:00.022+05:30

(A Drink made of Roasted Raw Mango pulp)

Aam pora shorbot/sherbet is a perfect antidote to the scorching heat of the peak summer months of April, May in India. Returning from school to a chilled glass of home made Aam pora shorbot during the deadly hot summer months are fond childhood memories. At the onset of summer, Ma would make a huge quantity of the concentrate, add preservative (Sodium Benzoate) for storing, and use as and when required. She would dilute the spiced and sweetened concentrate with chilled water for instant use. It would last the whole tenure of summer.

These days, a variation of Aam pora shorbot...Aam panna, is a much in demand summer drink, available in packaged avatar too. That these healthy, soothing and tasty drinks are being chosen over the aerated variety to quench thirst is indeed a cause for celebration! These drinks have a high nutrient value, a saviour against heat strokes and dehydrations too.
Unlike Ma, I dont make the concentrate in bulk....I use 8-10 mangoes at a time so that the concentrate lasts me a week or so.
Note : Aam Panna and Aam Pora shorbot preparation is the same. The only difference is the starting material.
While in Aam Pora Shorbot, the green mangoes are roasted over fire, in Aam Panna, the green mangoes are boiled. I prefer the smoky taste of the roasted mangoes and hence, though more time-consuming, I make the Aam Pora variety more often.
So here goes the recipe :
Ingredients :
What I used...
Sugar : 250gm
Rock Salt : 1tsp
Red Chilli flakes :1tsp
Roasted and ground Cumin powder : 2 tsp

Procedure :
1. Roast the mangoes in their jackets over a flame.
2. Cool the mangoes and then remove the skin.
3. Scoop out the pulp and mash it after removing the seed
3. Pass the pulp through a sieve, so that the fibres, if any, are removed.
4. Add powdered sugar, chilli, flakes, rock salt and mix over medium flame for a minute or two.
5. Sprinkle roasted and ground cumin powder.
6.Take it off the flame. Cool and store the concentrate in glass bottles.

To make a drink, add 1/4 glass of the concentrate. Add ice cubes and chilled water.

Hinger Kochuri

2009-03-27T12:35:00.010+05:30

Fried Pancakes or Indian bread stuffed with a filling of lentil-asafoetida mix

Though Hing er Kochuri with Alur Dum was a favourite Sunday brunch during growing up years, it was my cousin's visit last week that propelled me to make it myself. Without access to my cooking guru, my Ma, I had to go by the taste I remembered. It was more of a trial and error which thankfully yielded moderately good results...though the hing flavour was a tad too mild for my satisfaction. So today when I made it again, I added some more hing and the flavour was just about right. I still havent had the opportunity to confirm my impromptu recipe's accuracy from Ma. Once I do and if there are any modifications, will post the same...

For now, the recipe for the Hing er Kochuri goes as follows :

Ingredients :
Chholar dal (Split chickpea) 100 gms - Soaked overnight
Kolai /Urad dal (White lentils) - 150 -200gms - Soaked for 1 hour
Fennel Seeds - dry roasted-for seasoning
Hing/ Asafoetida - 4 tbsp
Oil - 1/2 litre
Maida/All purpose flour - 1/2 kg
Salt to taste
Green chilli - 1 or 2 (Optional)
Red Chilli - a pinch (Optional)

Procedure :
For the filling :
1. Mix the soaked dal/lentils, throw in a tsp of salt, a green chilli and grind them together to make a paste. It need not be a very smooth paste.

2. In a wok, add about 3-4 tbsp of oil. Temper with fennel seeds. Add the hing/asafoetida, fry for a few second (dont overfry...hing burns ver easily). Add the dal/lentil paste. Add sallt, as required. Mix well. Fry for about 10 minutes or till the hing, lentil paste and salt have mixed unirformly. Keep aside.

For the Dough
1. In a small skillet, take a tbsp of oil. Heat it and throw in a tsp of Hing. Fry for a second or two. Take it off the flame.

2. Now take the maida. Mix the oil+Hing as above, to the maida. Sprinkle a pinch of salt. And mix well.

3. Now knead the maida into a soft dough.

4. Like in making puri/luchi, pinch of balls off the dough, roll them into smooth balls. Then make cavities in the centre and add a spoonful of the lentil-hing mix. Fold up the dough cup with the lentil mix in the centre and seal it and again roll into ball.

5. Now roll out the balls as you would in case of puri/luchi.

6. Deep fry.

The Hing er Kochuris are ready to be eaten with the Alur Dum or achar, Chholar Daal, or just plain!

Note : With the maida, around 14 Kochuris could be made. The filling of dal-hing mix can be refrigerated in an air tight box for a few days. I make the maida dough fresh each time.

This is my entry to the event 'My Legume Love Affair-Ninth Helping' (MLLA9) hosted for the month by Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

The creator of this interesting event which is doing its 9th round is Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

The logo for the event is :

Mixed Fruit Chaatni

2009-03-25T00:52:00.004+05:30

The Bengali Chaatni can have any fresh fruit as an ingredient. One of the most common being the tomato, of course. Other common ones being Aam (Raw mango), Pepe (Raw Papaya), Olive (Aamra), Anarosh (Pineapple) to name a few.

Tomato chaatni having become too common and more importantly there being only a handful in my fridge, made me think out-of-the-box. A peek into the fridge, brought out half a pineapple, some grapes and as I've already mentioned, a handful of tomatoes. So got down to an improvisation...with some seedless tamarind and dates (which are always available in my fridge) thrown in to the fruit medley, a mixed fruit chaatni, it would be!

Ingredients : what I used in this impromptu recipe Tomatoes - 3
Pineapple - 1/2 a pineapple (small one) - chopped into small pieces
Grapes - about 15-20 - sliced longitudinally
Seedless tamarind-a small ball soaked in warm water to make a pulp
Seedless dates - a small bowl full
Cashew/Kaju - broken pieces - about 30-40 gms
Sugar - 100 gms or depending on the desired sweet-tangy taste
black salt- a pinch
fennel seeds - dry roasted or microwaved for a minute
Dry Roasted Cummin powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
Bay leaf - 1 (Optional)
Mustard Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure :
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Throw in the bay leaf
2. Temper with the fennel seeds as phoron.
3. Add the broken kaju pieces and the chopped seedless dates. Fry for a few seconds
4. Add the tomatoes. Stir around in the wok till they are almost mashed.
5. Add the sugar. Mix well
6.Add the pineapples pieces, grapes, tamarind pulp.
7. Cook till they all integrate. Sprinke some water if too dry.
8. Check for the sweetness.
9. Add a pinch of black salt and the chilli flakes. Mix well
10. Before taking the wok off the flame, sprinkle some roasted Cummin / jeera powder.
The Chaatni will have a sweet-sour-slightly hot taste.

Ilish Maachh Bhaja..Tel Kaancha Lonka diye

2009-03-22T12:46:00.007+05:30

(Fried Hilsa fish eaten with Mustard Oil & Green Chilli)

Even as I write, I'm salivating thinking of this simplest of simple, yet heavenly fish preparation.

To say it is easy to prepare, is an understatement.

Hilsa or Ilish tastes best when the size is big, minimum of 1 kg. But staying away from the fish lovers' hub that my home town is, I dont always have a choice. And have to be satisfied with whatever size the vendor has. Hence when last Sunday, a tiny Hilsa, Khoka Ilish (literally translated, it would mean Khoka=young boy ;)), weighing around 300gms was all that was available, I bought, two such Hilsas. But the bones of Ilish are such, that it would scare even the most loyal of fish lovers! And the smaller the size, the finer the bones.

Hence decided to prepare this particular preparation, which is a crispy, deep fried dish, where the crunchy bones can be chewed and eaten up!

Ingredients :

Illish Maachh (Hilsa) - cut into pieces and washed and cleaned (I used 2 Hilsas, 300gms each)

Salt - to taste

Turmeric/Halid - 1 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)

Mustard Oil - 200-250 ml

Procedure :

1. Smear the washed fish pieces with Salt, turmeric and red chilli powder and keep aside for about 15 minutes

2. In a wok, pour around 250 ml of mustard Oil for deep frying. Heat the oil.

3. Deep fry the marinated fish on high flame till they are browned and crispy.

To eat this fried fish :

The mustard Oil in which the fish is fried, is mixed with hot plain rice, smeared with Kaancha Lonka (Green Chilli) and a bite of the crunchy, crispy Ilish Maachh bhaaja.